Grave v. Shubert

Elliot Shubert (defendant) and Marilyn Grave (plaintiff) had two children when they divorced in a Minnesota district court in 1993. The court granted physical custody to Grave and parenting time to Shubert. Shubert was ordered to pay child support, but he did not consistently obey the order and fell into arrearage. Shubert moved to England. In 1998, Shubert moved an English court to reduce his child support and forgive his arrears. Grave did not respond in the matter, and the English court ordered a reduction in child support and arrears. Meanwhile, a Minnesota county agency attempted to help Grave obtain payment from Shubert. The agency discovered that Shubert had two retirement accounts in the United States. In 1999, the county agency moved a Minnesota district court to reduce Shubert’s arrears to judgment, allowing the agency to attach the retirement funds. Shubert did not respond to the motion and did not appear in the matter. The district court granted the agency’s motion and ordered the arrears to be reduced to judgment. Months later, Shubert moved the district court to review the order and to consider the English court’s modification order as new evidence, but he did not attempt to register the English order in the district court. The district court denied Shubert’s motions, and Shubert appealed. One of Shubert’s arguments on appeal was that the district court should have considered the English court’s order as new evidence.