## Facts

- A circuit court dissolved Roy Shane Howard’s and Sondra K. Howard’s marriage, awarding joint custody with Sondra as the child’s primary residential custodian.
- The decree found Shane voluntarily unemployed after leaving his job as a federal prison guard and set child support based on his prior earning capacity.
- The decree allocated marital debts to Shane, including responsibility for a loan on a Dodge Durango; the vehicle was later repossessed but a deficiency remained.
- After entry of the decree, Shane filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy and received a discharge; he did not obtain a bankruptcy-court determination that the divorce-allocated debt was dischargeable.
- Approximately 15 months after the decree, Shane moved in family court to reduce child support, citing worsened health, unemployment/reduced income, and financial effects associated with bankruptcy.
- Sondra moved to hold Shane in contempt for failing to pay the marital debts assigned to him and sought attorney’s fees for enforcement efforts.
- The family court denied Shane’s motion to modify child support, held him in contempt for nonpayment of the allocated marital debt, and awarded Sondra attorney’s fees.
- The Court of Appeals affirmed; the Supreme Court of Kentucky granted discretionary review.

## Issues

1. Whether a state family court may enforce, by contempt, a divorce-decree obligation to pay an allocated third-party marital debt after the obligor receives a Chapter 7 discharge.
2. Whether the obligor proved a material, substantial, and continuing change in circumstances justifying modification of child support where the original order imputed income based on prior earnings and voluntary unemployment.
3. Whether the family court abused its discretion by awarding attorney’s fees to the obligee spouse in connection with enforcement and contempt proceedings.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Kentucky affirmed the Court of Appeals and the family court.
- The court held contempt enforcement was permissible because the divorce-related debt obligation fell within bankruptcy discharge exceptions applicable to divorce-related obligations owed to or for the benefit of a former spouse.
- The court upheld denial of child-support modification because Shane failed to show a material, substantial, and continuing change beyond circumstances contemplated when the original order imputed income.
- The court upheld the attorney’s fee award as within the family court’s discretion given the enforcement litigation and the parties’ financial circumstances.

## Legal Principles

- Divorce-decree obligations to pay marital debts may be excepted from Chapter 7 discharge under federal bankruptcy law when incurred in connection with a divorce decree and owed to or for the benefit of a former spouse; state courts may enforce such obligations despite a discharge.
- A child-support order may be modified only upon proof of a material, substantial, and continuing change in circumstances making the existing order unreasonable.
- Voluntary unemployment or underemployment permits imputation of income consistent with earning capacity; reduced actual earnings alone do not require a support reduction.
- Trial courts have broad discretion to award attorney’s fees in domestic-relations matters, including where fees are incurred to enforce compliance with court orders; appellate review is for abuse of discretion.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed enforcement of divorce-allocated marital debt through contempt notwithstanding the obligor’s Chapter 7 discharge, affirmed denial of a requested child-support reduction for lack of a qualifying change in circumstances where income had been imputed based on earning capacity, and upheld a discretionary attorney’s fee award to the enforcing spouse.


Howard v. Howard, 336 S.W.3d 433 (Ky. 2011)