Michelle Kay (Clark) Love v. James Terrill Clark

A mother obtained a default judgment against her former spouse for child support arrearages and other amounts. At the mother’s request, the trial court entered orders of income assignment to the former spouse’s employers, each directing them to deduct a set amount from the former spouse’s salary to satisfy the default judgment. Nearly fourteen and one-half years later, the former spouse asked the court to terminate the wage assignment, claiming the culmulative amount deducted from his income exceeded the amount of judgment plus interest. The former spouse also sought a judgment against the mother to the extent she had received more than she was entitled to under the default judgment. The mother argued that the voluntary payment doctrine barred recovery. The trial court found that the former spouse’s “overpayments were made with full knowledge of the facts chargeable to him” but that they “were not voluntary payments.” Accordingly, the court entered judgment against mother plus statutory post-judgment interest.