Divorcing
Doctor Challenges Alimony
The Moultrie Observer
Author:
Lori Glenn
Publication Date: 2005-03-10
MOULTRIE — During a Tuesday
hearing in a family law case before the Colquitt County Superior
Court, a former Moultrie physician continued his fight against
alimony, saying it’s a violation of his constitutional right to
privacy.
Dr. Denny Cormier’s is one of
several cases in state courts in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina
and New York and in the U.S. Court of Appeals in which the
constitutionality of alimony is contested.
In a Motion for Declaratory
Judgment before Colquitt County Superior Court Judge Frank Horkan,
Cormier pointed out that the Georgia State Supreme Court already
declared privacy to be a fundamental constitutional right. A
fundamental right can only be violated if Georgia authorities can
show a compelling state interest — one so overwhelming as to
outweigh an individual’s rights, which Cormier said the state has
not done regarding alimony.
Horkan did not rule on the
motion.
The physician and former
engineer said his wife, Nancy Cormier of Eustis, Fla., is not
entitled to alimony because she left him in August 2003, and under
Georgia law a deserting spouse is not entitled to alimony.
He also raised constitutional
issues in his argument, including privacy rights, involuntary
servitude imposed by alimony, vagueness, equal protection, due
process and gender bias.
“This thing is only viewed in
one light,” he said, referring to a 1991 report to the Georgia
Supreme Court by the Commission on Gender Bias in the Judicial
System that there is significant gender bias in alimony awards in
favor of women.
Cormier also took issue with a
judge’s discretionary power in determining alimony.
“How can these laws be
administered fairly, when you have this broad discretionary power,
and the judges seem to think they’re above the law?” the physician
said afterwards. “I’m telling you now, this is going to be appealed
to the Georgia Supreme Court.”
Besides his divorce case,
Cormier currently has a federal lawsuit in which he is the plaintiff
under review in the U.S. Court of Appeals alleging alimony statutes
violate constitutional rights, particularly right to privacy.
Defendants named in the case under appeal are the Georgia Department
of Human Resources and Colquitt County Superior Court.
“One of the other issues is
whether this constitutes a debtors’ prison. People are thrown in
jail, and they can’t get out. How are you going to pay off the
alimony if you are in jail?” he said.
Horkan
did order Cormier to deliver personal property valued to his wife
soon or face jail time. Cormier had not responded to a previous
order to do so and was facing contempt charges. He claimed he had no
knowledge of his wife’s whereabouts since she left him.
The doctor, who is under
contract in Atlanta through the end of the month, said the court’s
order would jeopardize his contract and might force him into
bankruptcy.
Horkan
advised Cormier, who is acting as his own counsel, to retain a
lawyer. He also allowed both sides more time to produce financial
documents. Cormier had attempted to produce electronic documents
stored on a floppy disc to the court, but Horkan would not accept
the disc and ordered the defendant to produce hard copies.
The physician said he still is
in debt from medical school and his wife is receiving support from a
trust in her mother’s name that could be worth about $1 million and
has properties in several Florida counties. He referred to plastic
surgery his wife had done and vehicle purchases he believes were
paid for out of the trust. Nancy Cormier testified her mother gave
her the money as a gift.
Nancy Cormier’s attorney,
Dwight May of Moultrie, asked the court to reinstate temporary
alimony to her at $2,000 a month. Horkan stated Nancy Cormier had
not made a good faith effort to get a job since August 2003. Nancy
Cormier testified she acted as support to her husband through good
times and during “reversals of fortunes,” particularly a 10-month
period when Cormier could not get a Florida license to practice
medicine because of an application discrepancy. Cormier defended his
application and said the content was determined to be correct after
a grievance complaint against the University of South Florida.
“I devoted my whole life to
making you successful,” she said on stand.
Married since 1971, the couple
has two grown children. Cormier had offered his wife equal property
distribution but no alimony, he said, but she refused.
