Section 24.7 Satisfying the Requirement of Definiteness of Judgment

• Library: Family Law Deskbook and 2014 Supp

E. (§24.7) Satisfying the Requirement of Definiteness of Judgment

As with regular money judgments, a maintenance or child support order must be readily calculable from the terms of the order. Hence, the law requires that a decree or judgment for money must be definite and certain to be enforceable. Rarely do issues of definiteness arise because maintenance and child support orders, by their nature, are usually expressed in specific dollar amounts.

Often, a judgment will provide that one party pay the medical, educational, camp, or other expenses of the minor child. Traditionally, if a trial court found it necessary to adduce external evidence to ascertain the specific amounts due under the order, the order was deemed too indefinite to be enforced. See Rodden v. Rodden, 527 S.W.2d 41, 43 (Mo. App. E.D. 1975), overruled by Lay v. Lay, 912 S.W.2d 466, 470 (Mo. banc 1995).

The Supreme Court has relaxed the requirement of definiteness and certainty in the context of dissolution orders and decrees. In Payne v. Payne, 635 S.W.2d 18, 22 (Mo. banc 1982), the Supreme Court held that a maintenance provision in a dissolution decree, even if facially uncertain in amount, is nevertheless valid as long as “[t]he trial court may upon motion determine the exact amount due in accordance with the agreement of the parties, and then, upon proper application proceed to enforce the judgment.” The Court later applied the same standard to child support awards. Toomey v. Toomey, 636 S.W.2d 313 (Mo. banc 1982).

In fact, Rodden, 527 S.W.2d 41, was overruled by Lay v. Lay, 912 S.W.2d 466, 470 (Mo. banc 1995), in which the Court held that the term “medical expenses,” as defined by common, everyday usage, supplemented by the Internal Revenue Code’s definition of medical care, is sufficiently clear so as to be enforceable. Provisions for maintenance that lack pristine specificity are enforceable if the decree can be made certain in a hearing to determine the exact amount due by ministerial computation. But if the decree fails to set forth any specific and certain criteria to determine the amount due, the decree is unenforceable. The provision “the husband shall also keep in effect at his expense the policy of medical and hospitalization insurance for the wife or a comparable policy” is not so vague or ambiguous as to render it unenforceable. Foster v. Foster, 39 S.W.3d 523, 525–28 (Mo. App. E.D. 2001).

In Krane v. Krane, 912 S.W.2d 473 (Mo. banc 1995), a companion case to Lay, 912...