Supreme Court of Vermont
Paula Pahnke/Office of Child Support v. Jonathan Pahnke
January 10, 20142014 VT 2
Summary
The Vermont Supreme Court affirmed the family division's child support order, holding that the father waived his service of process defense, that Vermont had personal jurisdiction over him, and that the court possessed subject‑matter jurisdiction to modify the Michigan support order under UIFSA §613. The court reversed the magistrate's retroactive elimination of the mother's arrearage and remanded for recalculation.
Holding
- Whether father waived the defense of insufficient service of process.. Father waived the service of process defense because he received actual notice and failed to raise the objection at the first opportunity.
- Whether Vermont courts had personal jurisdiction over father.. Vermont exercised personal jurisdiction over father because his contacts with the state satisfied International Shoe minimum‑contact requirements.
- Whether Vermont had subject‑matter jurisdiction under UIFSA to modify the Michigan support order.. Vermont had subject‑matter jurisdiction under UIFSA §613 because all parties resided in Vermont, allowing the state to modify the foreign order.
- Whether the magistrate could retroactively eliminate mother’s child support arrearage prior to September 16, 2008.. The magistrate lacked authority to retroactively eliminate arrearage; modification may apply only to future installments or those accruing after the filing date of the motion.
Docket Nos. 12-387, 12-416 & 13-007