Poland v. Poland’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Often, where there are reciprocal money judgments, the smaller is set off against the larger, so that the judgment creditor in the larger has judgment only for the amount of the difference. The offset of reciprocal judgments, however, is not mandatory. Offset is governed by the rules of equitable procedure. Helstein v. Schmidt, 229 Mo.App. 275 , 78 S.W.2d 132, 135 (1935). In order for judgments to be qualified for offset, the demands must be “mutual and subsisting between the same parties, and due in the same capacity or right.” Payne v. Payne, 695 S.W.2d 494, 497 (Mo.App.1985). The court must assess the “individual qualities” of the judgments. Id. at 497 . A judgment for maintenance and child support is a special kind of judgment. It is intended for the limited purposes of maintenance and child support. With respect to the child support judgment, it may further be said the wife receives child support in a kind of fiduciary capacity, with the obligation to expend it for the support of the children. This trust would be defeated if wife’s judgment obligations to husband could be applied to reduce the money intended for the support of the children. That child support and maintenance obligations have a special status is recognized by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court which denies dischargeability to such obligations. See Adams v. Zentz, 963 F.2d 197 (8th Cir.1992); Draper v. Draper, 790 F.2d 52 (8thCir.1986).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Marriage of Smithson v. Smithson