Summary 2013 WY 121

Summary of Decision October 2, 2013

District Judge Day delivered the opinion for the Court. Affirmed.

Case Name: JESSICA L. TAFOYA v. PAUL W. TAFOYA

Docket Number: S-13-0011

URL: http://www.courts.state.wy.us/Opinions.aspx

Appeal from the District Court of Laramie County, Honorable Edward L. Grant, Judge

Representing Appellant (Plaintiff/Defendant): Zenith S. Ward and Curtis B. Buchhammer, Buchhammer & Kehl, P.C., Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Representing Appellee (Plaintiff/Defendant): Donna D. Domonkos, Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Date of Decision: October 2, 2013

Facts: Jessica L. Tafoya (Mother) and Paul W. Tafoya (Father) divorced in 2012. In the divorce decree, the trial court awarded Father (living in Wyoming) primary custody of the parties’ child with liberal visitation to Mother (living in New Mexico). Upon Father’s motion, the reviewing district court[1] later entered an order clarifying the decree regarding who was obligated for transportation costs relative to visitation. Mother appeals from that order, claiming the order improperly modified or otherwise improperly clarified the divorce decree. Father maintains that the order did not amount to a modification and that the order correctly clarified the decree.

Issues: The dispositive issue in this appeal is whether the district court properly clarified the decree pursuant to W.R.C.P. 60(a).

Holdings: The Decree of Divorce incorporated a Standard Visitation Order. Taken together, the visitation cost provisions contained in the body of the decree and the visitation order presented a patent ambiguity. In its order granting Father’s motion to clarify, the district court properly employed Rule 60(a) to clarify the ambiguity and correctly clarified the decree according to the contemporaneous intent of the trial court. Affirmed.

Summaries are prepared by Law Librarians and are not official statements of the Wyoming Supreme Court
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