Charette v. Charette
Annotate this CaseDale and Diane Charette's divorce incorporated a settlement agreement in which the parties agreed that Dale would pay Diane $200 per week as general spousal support. The district court later reduced Dale's spousal support obligation to $165, finding that a reduction was warranted due to Dale's significantly changed medical circumstances. After Dale failed to make several of the reduced payments, the court first granted Diane's motion to enforce and then found Dale to be in contempt for failing to pay support as ordered. Dale, meanwhile, filed a second motion to modify, which the trial court denied. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the trial court did not abuse its discretion in declining to further lower Dale's spousal support obligation on the ground that Diane was cohabitating with someone; (2) the court's factual finding that Dale was able to continue paying $165 per week in support was not clearly erroneous; and (3) the court did not err in ordering Dale to pay an additional $400 per month until the arrearage he had accumulated was cleared, as there was ample competent evidence to support the court's finding that Dale had the ability to make the additional payments.
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