DIVISION II
OFFICE OF CHILD SUPPORT
ENFORCEMENT & ANITA GAUVEY
APPELLANTS
V.
ROBERT W. GAUVEY
APPELLEE
CA06-103
October 25, 2006
APPEAL FROM THE FAULKNER
COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT
[DR-2005-401]
HONORABLE CHARLES E.
CLAWSON, JR., JUDGE
REVERSED AND REMANDED
DAVID M. GLOVER, Judge
The issue in this case is whether the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE)
can enforce a spousal support order contained in a foreign divorce decree from Germany.
We hold that OCSE can enforce the spousal order in question, and we reverse and remand
this case.
Anita and Robert Gauvey were married on December 22, 1988, in Cleburne
County, Arkansas, and were divorced on March 28, 1995, in Starnberg, Germany. Two
children were born of the marriage – Elizabeth, on November 8, 1989, and Sean, on
March 31, 1992. The German divorce decree provided that Anita Gauvey was the proper
person to have custody of the children. Appellee, Robert Gauvey, was given no visitation
rights in the divorce decree because there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest
concerning, among other things, false certification, loan fraud, bodily injury, and narcotic
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drug offenses; because Anita Gauvey testified that he had been violent toward her and the
children; and because he had had no contact with the children for almost two years,
having fled Germany. The pertinent support order from Germany provided that appellee
was to pay monthly child support of $212.25 per child and monthly spousal support of
$915.35. The total arrearage as of March 24, 2005, was calculated to be $164,801.55.
Anita Gauvey, through OCSE, filed a petition to register the German order for
child support and spousal support in the Faulkner County Circuit Court pursuant to the
provisions of the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA), found at Arkansas
Code Annotated section 9-17-101 et seq., and the Act for the Recovery of Maintenance in
Relations with Foreign States Germ