Richard Wagner, Appellant v. Felicia Wagner, Appellee

Summary

The court held that the superior court abused its discretion by treating Richard Wagner's absence from trial as voluntary without adequately addressing his pro se misunderstanding of the continuance procedure and without determining whether his work obligations constituted good cause. It reversed the finding that his absence was voluntary and remanded for that determination, while declining to reach the merits of the property and debt division. Justice Winfree, dissenting, would have affirmed because Richard knowingly failed to follow the continuance procedure, showed no prejudice, and voluntarily failed to appear.