Thiery v. Thiery, 2024 Ohio 2936

April and William Thiery were married in 2009; April filed for divorce in 2018. The marriage produced no children.
The trial court ordered William to pay both temporary and ongoing spousal support, including monthly obligations and an arrearage payment due to missed support payments.
William's income calculation for support included both Veterans Administration (VA) disability and Social Security Disability benefits.
William failed to pay the required amounts and was found in contempt; he was given an opportunity to purge the contempt by paying the arrearage, ongoing support, legal fees, and costs.
William objected, arguing his disability income should not have been counted as income and that the order was void under state and federal law.
The trial court and appellate court both ruled against William, holding his arguments were precluded by res judicata due to his failure to timely appeal prior decisions.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Contempt for failing to pay support	William failed to comply with lawful orders	Orders unlawful as disability income isn't income	Contempt order affirmed
Inclusion of federal disability in income	Disability benefits can be counted as income	Federal/VA disability benefits excluded from income	Valued as income for spousal support
Res judicata preclusion of relitigation	Issue was decided; William didn’t appeal	Orders void, so not final and res judicata doesn’t apply	Res judicata precludes further challenge
Due process re: transcript/timing	William failed to pay for/produce transcript	Court ruled while extension for transcript was pending	No due process violation; local rules control

State ex rel. Ventrone v. Birkel, 65 Ohio St.2d 10 (abuse of discretion standard in contempt proceedings)
State ex rel. Pizza v. Rayford, 62 Ohio St.3d 382 (court's error in exercising jurisdiction renders judgment voidable, not void)
Cady v. Cleveland Worsted Mills Co., 126 Ohio St. 171 (standard regarding abuse of discretion in contempt)