Griffin v. Griffin

Background

A woman secured a New York court order requiring her ex‑husband to pay $3,000 a year in alimony after a 1924 divorce modified in 1926. In 1936 a referee and the New York court found $18,493.64 due through October 25, 1935. In 1938 the county clerk docketed a money judgment for $25,382.75 that included later installments and interest; that docketing was entered without notifying the husband, who was living in the District of Columbia when this suit was brought.

Reasoning

The central question was whether a judgment entered without notice in New York could be used to collect money in another jurisdiction. The Court said the 1938 judgment, to the extent it created a personal money judgment for installments accruing after October 25, 1935, was invalid for want of notice and due process and could not be enforced in the District of Columbia. But the Court treated the 1936 adjudication of arrears up to October 25, 1935 as final and enforceable; those amounts could be recovered. The Court also found the petitioner’s fraud allegations unsupported by facts.

Real world impact

People trying to enforce out‑of‑state alimony money judgments will face limits when the enforcing judgment was entered without notice. Courts outside New York may only enforce amounts already litigated and finally decided in New York, and defendants must be given an opportunity to raise defenses as to later installments. The case was remanded so the lower court can sort what may still be recovered.

Dissents or concurrances

Two Justices disagreed in part, arguing New York’s practice of docketing arrears without new notice still entitled the whole 1938 judgment to full faith and credit, and would have sustained enforcement of the entire sum.