Steven Norris v. Jennifer Norris

── Steven Norris v. Jennifer Norris ── Case No.: 25S-DR-00226 Court: Indiana Supreme Court Date: March 12, 2026 Author: Loretta Rush Category: General FILED Mar 12 2026, 1:26 pm CLERK Indiana Supreme Court Court of Appeals and Tax Court IN THE Indiana Supreme Court Supreme Court Case No. 25S-DR-226 Steven Norris, Appellant –v– Jennifer Norris, Appellee Argued: November 18, 2025 | Decided: March 12, 2026 Appeal from the Marion Superior Court No. 49D14-1403-DR-9766 The Honorable Alicia A. Gooden, Judge On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals No. 24A-DR-1109 Opinion by Chief Justice Rush Justices Massa, Slaughter, Goff, and Molter concur. Rush, Chief Justice. Because trial courts regularly observe witness demeanor and assess credibility firsthand, they are best positioned to gauge the significance of the testimony and evidence before them. By contrast, reviewing courts like ours consider only the paper record. So, recognizing our limited role, we do not reweigh evidence or reassess credibility. Nor do we require trial courts to accept a witness’s self-serving testimony even when it’s uncontradicted. Here, an ex-husband claimed that his ex-wife’s failure to pay a joint loan—as required by their divorce settlement—damaged his credit rating, causing financial harm. During an evidentiary hearing, the ex-husband testified about his claimed damages but offered scant corroborating evidence. The trial court ultimately found the ex-wife in contempt for not paying the loan but declined to award the ex-husband damages, finding them speculative and unproven. The Court of Appeals issued an opinion partially reversing the trial court. And although that appellate opinion was not certified, the trial court issued a revised order to comply with it. We first hold that the trial court did not clearly err in declining to award the ex-husband damages. We then hold that the trial court’s revised order is void because the court had no jurisdiction to issue it during the pendency of this appeal. We thus affirm the court’s original order and remind trial courts, administrative agencies, parties, and counsel to refrain from relying on uncertified appellate opinions. Facts and Procedural History Steven Norris and Jennifer Norris divorced in 2014 after four years of marriage. They reached a settlement agreement, which was incorporated into the dissolution decree, that awarded Jennifer the marital home and made her responsible for all home-related debts. One of those debts was a $4,220 “furnace loan with Wells Fargo on a Home Projects Visa.” Jennifer agreed that “all payments” would be “made on time” and, if not, Steven could “pursue” her “for any credit reporting or scoring damages.” Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 25S-DR-226 | March 12, 2026 Page 2 of 9  In 2017, Jennifer stopped making payments on the Wells Fargo loan and told Steven she was going to file for bankruptcy. Steven was not served with any notice of Jennifer’s bankruptcy proceedings, although he attended a creditors meeting, and he missed a deadline to object to the discharge of Jennifer’s debt to Wells Fargo. Ultimately, Wells Fargo failed to prove it had perfected a security interest in any of Jennifer’s property, so its claim was treated as unsecured. Jennifer then began paying off part of her debts—though not the Wells Fargo loan—in installments pursuant to a payment plan. And when she completed those payments in 2021, her debt to Wells Fargo was deemed discharged through bankruptcy. Steven, meanwhile, made no payments on the loan. The following year, Steven filed a cont