Ex parte Christina Marie Alvarado PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS (In re: Skip Edward Alvarado v. Christina Marie Alvardo) (Baldwin Circuit Court: DR-25-900868).

Rel: November 21, 2025

Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance sheets of Southern Reporter.
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ALABAMA COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS
OCTOBER TERM, 2025-2026
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Ex parte Christina Marie Alvarado

PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS

(In re: Skip Edward Alvarado

v.

Christina Marie Alvarado)

(Baldwin Circuit Court: DR-25-900868)

EDWARDS, Judge.

On July 17, 2025, Skip Edward Alvarado ("the husband") filed in

the Baldwin Circuit Court ("the trial court") a complaint seeking a

divorce from Christina Marie Alvarado ("the wife"). Also on July 17,
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2025, the husband filed in the trial court an affidavit of substantial

hardship, alleging that he was unable to pay the docket fee and service

fees because of his indigency and requesting that the trial court waive

the prepayment of those fees. That same day, the trial court entered an

order denying the husband's request.

On July 24, 2025, the trial court entered an order instructing the

husband to pay the docket fee associated with the filing of the complaint

within 30 days.1 On August 21, 2025, the husband paid the docket fee.

Also, on August 21, 2025, the wife filed a motion to dismiss the husband's

divorce complaint. In her motion, the wife, citing § 12-19-70(b), Ala. Code

1975, argued that the trial court had lost jurisdiction over the case

because of the husband's failure to pay the docket fee within 30 days of

the entry of the trial court's July 17, 2025, order denying the husband's

request in his affidavit of substantial hardship. Following a hearing, the

1Circuit Judge William E. Scully, Jr., entered the order denying the

husband's request in his affidavit of substantial hardship; however,
Circuit Judge Karol J. Kemp entered the July 24, 2025, order. It is
unclear when or why the matter was reassigned from Judge Scully to
Judge Kemp, but, in the July 24, 2025, order, Judge Kemp noted that the
case had been reassigned to her.
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trial court, on September 9, 2025, entered an order denying the wife's

motion to dismiss.

On September 10, 2025, the wife timely filed in this court a petition

for a writ of mandamus directing the trial court to grant her motion to

dismiss the husband's divorce complaint. Although we called for answers

to the petition, no answers to the petition were filed.

A petition for the writ of mandamus is the appropriate means to

review the denial of a motion to dismiss for lack of subject-matter

jurisdiction. See Ex parte Vaughn, [Ms. CL-2024-0737, Nov. 15, 2024]

___ So. 3d ___ (Ala Civ. App. 2024).

" ' "A writ of mandamus is an extraordinary remedy that is
available when a trial court has exceeded its discretion. Ex
parte Fidelity Bank, 893 So. 2d 1116, 1119 (Ala. 2004). A writ
of mandamus is 'appropriate when the petitioner can show (1)
a clear legal right to the order sought; (2) an imperative duty
upon the respondent to perform, accompanied by a refusal to
do so; (3) the lack of another adequate remedy; and (4) the
properly invoked jurisdiction of the court.' Ex parte BOC
Group, Inc., 823 So. 2d 1270, 1272 (Ala. 2001)." ' "

Ex parte Brown, 963 So. 2d 604, 606-07 (Ala. 2007) (quoting Ex parte

Rawls, 953 So. 2d 374, 377 (Ala. 2006), quoting in turn Ex parte

Antonucci, 917 So. 2d 825, 830 (Ala. 2005)).

Section 12-19-70(b) provides:

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"The docket fee may be waived initially and taxed as costs at
the conclusion of the case if the court finds that payment of
the fee will constitute a substantial hardship pursuant to the
income guidelines provided in paragraphs a. and b. of
subdivision (4) of [Ala. Code 1975, §] 15-12-1. A verified
statement of substantial hardship, signed by the party
claiming hardship, shall be filed with the clerk of court. The
accompanying pleading shall be considered filed on the date
that the verified statement of substantial hardship is filed
with the court. If, within 90 days of the filing, the court makes
a written finding that the party claiming hardship has the
resources to pay the docket fee without substantial hardship,
the party shall have 30 days from the date of the written
finding of the court to submit payment of the docket fee or the
case shall be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Until such time
as the plaintiff pays the docket fee, the court shall stay the
proceedings and the summons or other process for service
shall not issue."

(Emphasis added.)

In her mandamus petition, the wife argues, as she did before the

trial court, that she has a clear legal right to an order dismissing the

husband's divorce complaint based on the husband's having failed to pay

the docket fee within 30 days of the entry of the trial court's July 17, 2025,

order denying the husband's request in his affidavit of substantial

hardship, as required by § 12-19-70(b). We agree.

In Grant v. Cooper, [Ms. CL-2024-0564, Feb. 21, 2025] ___ So. 3d

___ (Ala. Civ. App. 2025), this court, applying § 12-19-70(b), stated:

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"Here, the trial court entered an order on March 15,
2023, finding that [the plaintiff] was not indigent and denying
his request for a waiver of the prepayment of the docket fee.
There is no indication that [the plaintiff] submitted payment
of the docket fee within 30 days from the date of that order.
Indeed, almost nine months later, on December 1, 2023, [the
defendants] filed a motion to dismiss the complaint because of
[the plaintiff's] failure to pay the docket fee. Thereafter, the
trial court entered an order finding that [the plaintiff] was
indigent and waiving the prepayment of the docket fee.

"We note, however, that, pursuant to § 12-19-70(b), [Ala.
Code 1975,] 30 days after March 15, 2023, the trial court lost
jurisdiction over the matter because [the plaintiff] did not pay
the docket fee."

Like in Grant, in the current case the trial court denied the

husband's request in his affidavit of substantial hardship, and the

husband failed to pay the docket fee within 30 days of the entry of the

trial court's July 17, 2025, order denying the request in the affidavit of

substantial hardship, as required by § 12-19-70(b). However, unlike in

Grant, in the current case the trial court subsequently entered an order

on July 24, 2025, instructing the husband to pay the docket fee within 30

days. That order, however, could not have extended the time for the

husband to pay the docket fee beyond the 30 days provided in § 12-19-

70(b).

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It appears to this court that the language of § 12-19-70(b) is clear

on its face, so

"there is no room for judicial construction. When the language
of a statute is plain and unambiguous, as in this case, courts
must enforce the statute as written by giving the words of the
statute their ordinary plain meaning -- they must interpret
that language to mean exactly what it says and thus give
effect to the apparent intent of the Legislature."

Ex parte T.B., 698 So. 2d 127, 130 (Ala. 1997).

The plain language of § 12-19-70(b) clearly provides that the

husband had 30 days from the entry of the July 17, 2025, order to pay the

docket fee; when he did not do so, the trial court was required to dismiss

the husband's case. See § 12-19-70(b); see also Hornsby v. Sessions, 703

So. 2d 932, 939 (Ala. 1997) ("The word 'shall' is considered presumptively

mandatory unless something in the character of the provision being

construed requires that it be considered differently."). Consequently,

following the expiration of the 30-day period, the trial court lost subject-

matter jurisdiction over the husband's case. See Grant, supra.

Accordingly, the wife has established a clear legal right to the relief she

seeks, and we grant her petition. The trial court is instructed to dismiss

the husband's complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.

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PETITION GRANTED; WRIT ISSUED.

Moore, P.J., and Hanson, Fridy, and Bowden, JJ., concur.

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