Opinion
357749
10-20-2021
Lisa Michele Key v. Alvin Lester Key
LC No. 20-002935-DO
Jane E. Markey Douglas B. Shapiro Judges
ORDER
Mark T. Boonstra Presiding Judge
The application for leave to appeal is DENIED for lack of merit in the grounds presented. This denial does not preclude defendant-appellant from requesting an award of spousal support in the future, however. A judgment of divorce must include "a provision reserving or denying spousal support, if spousal support is not granted[.]" MCR 3.211(B)(4). "[A] judgment silent with regard to spousal support reserves it." Id. In the present matter, ¶ 6 of the divorce judgment acknowledges that "neither the Complaint for Divorce nor the Answer contained a request for spousal support," and that the trial court entered two orders denying leave to amend the answer and to file a counterclaim for spousal support. With that preface, the order then states: "Spousal support is not awarded in this Consent Judgment of Divorce." We cannot conclude, on the basis of the language of ¶ 6 and the content of the bench rulings denying leave to amend and add a counterclaim, that the divorce judgment resolved the issue of spousal support in one of the three manners intended and required by the court rule. The judgment does not grant spousal support, deny spousal support, or reserve spousal support within the meaning of MCR 3.211(C)(4). Rather, the divorce judgment merely acknowledges the decision of the trial court to foreclose consideration of the spousal support issue; it did not memorialize an initial determination whether defendant-appellant had a right to spousal support at all. Under these circumstances, the issue of spousal support is reserved.