Lynde v. Lynde; Lynde v. Lynde

Background

A husband and wife were involved in alimony litigation that produced a decree from the Court of Chancery of New Jersey. That decree required payment of $7,840 in past-due alimony and $1,000 in counsel fees, ordered ongoing payments at $80 per week, and authorized bond, sequestration, a receiver, and injunction if the husband defaulted. The husband appeared in the New Jersey proceeding; later, courts in New York considered how to treat and enforce that New Jersey decree.

Reasoning

The Court addressed whether New York could review or give full extraterritorial effect to the New Jersey decree. It explained that a judgment from one State becomes a record debt, but to enforce it in another State it must be made a judgment there under local law. The Court held the fixed sum already due was a final obligation that could be recognized, but future alimony payments were discretionary in New Jersey and not a final, fixed judgment. Execution-related remedies (bond, sequestration, receiver, injunction) are actions of enforcement and have no automatic force outside the State where entered. Because the husband had appeared in New Jersey, his claim of being deprived of property without due process had no basis, so his writ of error was dismissed, and the judgment on the wife’s writ was affirmed.

Real world impact

People seeking to collect support across state lines can have already-due, fixed alimony recognized elsewhere, but they cannot automatically use New Jersey’s ongoing payment orders or enforcement devices in another State. Other States must convert the decree into a local judgment and rely on their own statutes and practice to enforce it.