Summary
The Supreme Court of Wyoming affirmed a divorce decree awarding the wife $400 per month in alimony directly from the husband's military retired pay. The court declined to reach the merits of the husband's Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act argument because the divorce was entered by default and the appellate record contained no transcript or substitute record.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the Wyoming Supreme Court could review Robert Burt's challenge to the division of his military retirement benefit when the appeal contained no transcript or substitute record.
- Whether the military-retirement-benefit provision of the divorce decree should be affirmed on the incomplete appellate record.
Holdings
- When an appellant fails to provide a properly authenticated transcript or substitute record necessary to evaluate the alleged error, the appellate court presumes the regularity of the trial court's judgment and the competency of the evidence supporting it, and limits review accordingly.
- The district court's award of $400 per month from Robert Burt's military retired pay is affirmed because the incomplete appellate record does not permit review of the alleged federal-law error.
Key quotations
“Lacking a transcript, or a substitute for the transcript, the regularity of the trial court's judgment and the competency of the evidence upon which that judgment is based must be presumed.” (¶ 7; 53 P.3d at 103)
“Therefore, we will presume that the district court had a proper basis for its division of Burt's military pension.” (¶ 8; 53 P.3d at 103)
Factual background
Charlene Burt filed a divorce complaint, and Robert Burt failed to answer after being served. The district court entered a default divorce decree awarding Charlene $400 per month in alimony from Robert's military retired pay. Robert asserted that the award did not comply with federal restrictions concerning disposable military retired pay and VA disability benefits, but the hearing was unreported and the appellate record contained no transcript or documentary evidence.
Procedural history
Charlene Burt filed for divorce, and Robert Burt was served but failed to answer, resulting in entry of default. The district court entered a divorce decree awarding Charlene $400 per month in alimony paid directly from Robert's military retired pay. Robert timely appealed, challenging the award under federal law, but did not provide a transcript or settle the record by other means. The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed.