Anita Martin v. Christopher Martin

Kansas City, Missouri divorce lawyers represented the parties in a marriage dissolution action.

On February 2023, Anita Martin ("Appellant") filed a petition in the Jackson County Circuit Court against Christopher Martin ("Respondent") and Yolanda Martin ("New Wife"). The petition alleged the following: Appellant and Respondent used to be married. Their divorce was finalized in



[687 S.W.3d 418]



September 2006 in Johnson County, Kansas.1



At the time of their divorce, Respondent was ordered to pay $1,030 per month in child support and $1,333 per month in spousal maintenance to Appellant. The spousal maintenance obligation had a term of sixty consecutive months. The amount of child support and maintenance was adjusted periodically since the divorce decree was entered, with the most recent adjustment occurring in July 2018. Respondent has been in arrears with respect to child support and spousal support since 2007. Respondent has been ordered at least seven times by the Johnson County, Kansas court to pay past due child support arrears.



Sometime prior to 2018, Respondent and the woman he remarried (New Wife), along with other National Football League ("NFL") players, filed a lawsuit against the Kansas City Chiefs ("Chiefs Lawsuit") for compensation for injuries or potential injuries sustained by Respondent and New Wife during Respondent's time as a professional football player. Appellant, who has an outstanding judgment against Respondent, placed a judgment lien on any judgment or settlement proceeds payable to Respondent from the Chiefs Lawsuit. Respondent settled with the Kansas City Chiefs in or around August 2018 for approximately $1,300,000. Respondent did not make any effort to pay his child support arrears owed to Appellant. Respondent's counsel for the Chiefs Lawsuit did not satisfy the judgment lien on the settlement proceeds.



In September 2019, Appellant filed a motion for civil contempt against Respondent in Johnson County, Kansas on the basis that Respondent remained in arrears for his child support obligation. A contempt hearing was held on March 4, 2022 on the motion for civil contempt, the State of Kansas's motion to clarify orders regarding child support and determine arrears, and Appellant's motion to increase child support. The court found Respondent was in indirect civil contempt and owed Appellant $94,657.67. To purge himself of the contempt order, the judge ordered Respondent to satisfy the child support balance owed by making a cash payment in that amount. The court made the following findings:



[The] Court notes the following as examples of the Respondent's conduct, but this is not an exhaustive list demonstrated through the evidence presented at trial. The Plaintiff received, from Respondent, a parcel of real estate in Alabama, as part of Plaintiff's collection efforts. Following this transfer, the Respondent then executed a Quit Claim Deed transferring an interest in the property to a family member. This act clouded the title to the property and, in essence, made the transfer worthless and of no value. In addition, the Respondent had transferred assets to his spouse in order to evade collection efforts and to ostensibly create an appearance of the lack of an ability to pay past due support judgments. Nonetheless, the Respondent, by his own testimony, stated that he has received a settlement from the NFL and other entities in 2018 of approximately $300,000.00.2 There was a lien on the settlement proceeds by virtue of the ac-



[687 S.W.3d 419]



tion filed in Missouri in favor of Plaintiff, yet the lien was not honored by the settling party, the Respondent's attorney, or the Respondent. Instead, Respondent indicated that he received those funds but paid none of that to Plaintiff to satisfy and/or reduce the existing judgment/court orders regarding past-due support. Respondent further testified that he took the remaining settlement monies (after fees were deducted by his personal injury lawyers) and applied it to his own needs by purchasing a home which he then appears to have titled solely in his current Wife's name. Similar efforts appear to have been taken with respect to his primary marital residence in Kansas City, Missouri (titled only in her name), based upon the evidence, as well as with numerous high-priced luxury automobiles. These are willful acts which this Court conclude are reflective of Respondent's bad faith and his unwillingness to pay his debts and comply with the Court's prior orders–despite an ability to address the same.



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[H]aving reviewed the evidence in this case and having heard the testimony of the witnesses, that the facts clearly demonstrate that the Respondent has willfully violated the Court's orders and existing judgments and has intentionally obfuscated in bad faith what is essentially bordering on fraudulent conduct as it relates to trying to pay the outstanding arrearage and judgments that have been previously entered by this Court.



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[T]his Court believes he has not only the ability to pay but the assets to pay and the resources to pay given the numerous properties, the numerous vehicles that this Court believes are in effect his with his wife, the fact that there were hundreds of thousands of dollars received from the NFL settlement that were immediately transferred to a home that was then titled in his wife's – new wife's name, does not make them any less his property.



Since the entry of the order of contempt, Respondent and New Wife sold their prior residence and moved to a new residence. Since becoming indebted to Appellant, Respondent has transferred real property, assets, and money to New Wife in an effort to evade the debt owed to Appellant. Respondent currently has the following unpaid judgments against him: (1) $94,657.61 in April 2022, for outstanding child support arrears and interest; (2) $23,927 entered in May 2008; (3) $10,000 for attorney's fees; and (4) $26,000 in attorney's fees.

Martin v. Martin, 687 S.W.3d 416 (Mo. App. 2024)