Speckler v. Speckler

⁶³⁶ McWilliams, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The parties were married in Baltimore in 1935. Their two children are emancipated. In March 1962 they entered into a separation agreement which provided, among other things, for the payment of $150 per week by the appellant (Lewis) to the appellee (Zelda) “for her support and maintenance.” Lewis bound himself and “his heirs and assigns” for the payment of that amount during Zelda’s lifetime or until her remarriage.

In September 1963 he filed a bill for a divorce in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County. Zelda did not answer nor did she thereafter appear either in person or by solicitor. The final decree of divorce a vinculo, dated 9 December 1963, required Lewis to pay Zelda, “for her support and maintenance * * * $150 per week * * * until the further order of” the court. In August 1969 Zelda filed a petition to have Lewis adjudged in contempt, alleging that he was $500 in arrears in his payments.

Answering, Lewis claimed that the court was without jurisdiction to hold him in contempt. At the hearing before Moorman, J., in September 1968, only Zelda testified. Lewis was present in court but he elected not to testify. At the conclusion of argument by counsel for both parties Judge Moorman found Lewis to be in contempt of court.

He ordered him to “be confined in the Montgomery County Detention Center until” he purged himself “of the contempt by the payment of $500.” Lewis contends that the payments required by the 1962 agreement are not “technical” alimony and that the implicit incorporation of the provision therefor into the divorce decree did not confer upon the court jurisdiction to incarcerate him for contempt based on his failure to pay. Lewis cites a number of cases in support of his argument but he somehow manages to overlook the 1950 amendment to Sec. 38 of Art. Ill of the Maryland Constitution which, as amended, is as follows: “No person shall be imprisoned for debt, but a valid decree of a court of competent jurisdiction ⁶³⁷ or agreement approved by a decree of said Court for the support of a wife or dependent children [or for