Myra Elaine Johnston Wife and Johnny Ray Johnston Husband were divorced in 2004. The final divorce decree provided, in relevant part, that the marital home of the parties located at 5141 Seven Islands Road, Madison, Morgan County, Georgia shall be appraised by a mutually agreeable appraiser. The value established thereby, minus any sums owed . . . for the windows of said home, shall be the equity in said home, and each shall be entitled to an equal portion thereof. Husband shall have 90 days from the receipt of such appraisal to pay to Wife her equity therein. Neither party sought a discretionary appeal from the final decree. However, in 2005, Wife filed a motion for contempt, alleging that Husband had willfully failed or refused to pay her one-half of the equity in the marital home. Husband answered, asserting that he did “not owe any sum to Wife after the calculation as directed by the Final Judgment Decree.” This defense apparently was based upon an appraisal which showed negative equity by taking into account the value of the mobile home less the balance owed for the windows, but not including the value of the real property which was owned by Husband prior to the marriage. The trial court conducted a hearing, at which both parties and their counsel were present. Based upon what transpired at the hearing, the trial court entered an order denominated as a “Declaratory Judgment.” That order initially concluded that the relevant provision of the divorce decree was “unclear,” and then proceeded to find that the real property was Husband’s separate non-marital property and that only “the mobile home that sits on the property is marital property and the value thereof shall be divided equally . . ., minus any sums owed . . . for the windows for said home.” Wife applied for a discretionary appeal from the trial court’s order, and her application was granted.
Wife urges that the trial court erred, because the principle of res judicata precludes a relitigation of her entitlement to property previously awarded to her by the divorce decree. However, there is no question that she is entitled to one-half of the equity in the “marital home.” Instead, the dispute relates to what was meant by “marital home,” as that term was used in the divorce decree. The word “home” is not unambiguous as a matter of law. “There are several reasonable meanings which can be given the word ‘home.’ . . . . The word ‘home’ can mean the house in which the parties were living and not the land which surrounded it.” World Ins. Co. v. Puckett , 93 Ga. App. 538, 539 92 SE2d 215 1956 insurance. Husband took the position that “marital home” was used in that limited sense, whereas Wife urged that the term had a broader meaning and included the real property as well as the residence. Thus, there was no relitigation of a previously resolved issue. Instead, there was only an attempt to determine what had been litigated previously by the provision of the decree awarding Wife one-half of the equity in the “marital home.”
