Recently, the Speaker Law Firm obtained a published opinion on the post-judgment of divorce case of O’Leary v O’Leary, ___ Mich App ___ (Docket 333519), which has broad application beyond the family law context.
In
O’Leary, the parties’ judgement of divorce
required the marital home to be sold and “the indebtedness or profit shall be
shared equally.” The husband finally sold the home 6 years later for a loss.
The husband waited for several years ––as he was paying off the short sale––
before he sought to enforce the judgement of divorce by seeking reimbursement
from his ex-wife for her one-half share of the indebtedness. The wife argued
that the motion to enforce was barred by the 10-year statute of limitations;
the husband argued that the time to enforce did not begin to accrue until he
sold the home for a loss. The trial court agreed with the wife and denied the
husband’s motion to enforce.
The
Court of Appeals examined the interplay of MCL 603.5809 (limitations) and MCL 600.5827
(accrual).
Section
5809 provides:
A person shall not bring or maintain an
action to enforce a noncontractual
money obligation unless, after the claim first accrued to
the person, …the person commences the action within the applicable period of
time prescribed by this section…[T]he period of limitations is 10 years for
an action founded upon a judgment…from the time of the rendition of the judgment or
decree… [Emphasis added by Court of Appeals opinion]
Section
5827 provides:
Except as otherwise expressly provided,
the period of limitations runs from the
time the claim accrues. The claim accrues
at the time provided in [MCL
600.5829 to MCL 600.5858], and in cases
not covered by these sections the claim
accrues at the time the wrong upon which
the claim is based was done regardless
of
the time when damage results. [Emphasis added by Court
of Appeals opinion]
The
Court of Appeals held in a published opinion that the judgement of divorce was
subject to a 10-year statute of limitations contained in MCL 600.5809. However,
the Court of Appeals concluded that the accrual provision of MCL 600.5827
triggered the 10-year limitation period, such that the husband’s claim was
timely filed under 600.5809 because he filed within 10 years of selling the
house for a loss.
Labels: accrual, Adrian, family law, judgment of divorce, Lenawee County, MCL 600.5827, MCL 603.5809, Michgian, Noncontractual Money Obligations, statute of limitations