Alfred v. Alfred

89 So. 3d 786, 2012 WL 335877, 2012 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 28
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedFebruary 3, 2012
Docket2101035
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 89 So. 3d 786 (Alfred v. Alfred) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alfred v. Alfred, 89 So. 3d 786, 2012 WL 335877, 2012 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 28 (Ala. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

Susan M. Alfred (“the wife”) and Michael A. Alfred (“the husband”) were married in 1991. They have two children. In July 2009, the parties separated and the husband sued for a divorce. After a trial, the trial court divorced the parties and, among other things, ordered the husband to pay $1,350 per month in child support for the parties’ younger child, 100% of the postminority educational expenses of the parties’ older child, $10,000 in alimony in gross to the wife, and $500 per month in periodic, rehabilitative alimony for 60 months to the wife. The husband was also made responsible for the cost of the wife’s dental work and ordered to provide the wife with COBRA insurance benefits for 36 months. The wife appeals, arguing that the $500 per month alimony award is inequitable and that the trial court erred by failing to reserve jurisdiction to award her permanent periodic alimony after the expiration of the rehabilitative-alimony award.

The husband is a State Farm insurance agent. He also owns Alfred Properties, which leases the property on which his office sits and which owns the building that houses his office and another building that it rents to two business tenants. In the year the parties separated, 2009, the husband reported on his tax returns a total of $395,316 in income from his insurance agency and Alfred Properties. The business expenses of those businesses, as reported on his tax returns, were $202,555. The husband’s adjusted gross income for 2009 was therefore $192,761, before any taxes were paid. His adjusted gross income in 2008 was $218,703, while in 2007 it was $175,648.

Because the husband is self-employed, he must pay estimated income tax on at least a quarterly basis. The husband failed to pay any income tax to the state or the federal governments in 2007, resulting in a tax liability of $130,000, including penalties and interest. He also owed a portion of his 2008 state and federal taxes at the time of trial, which he estimated to be approximately $70,000, including penalties and interest.

The parties had owned a house in Rainbow City that they purchased in 2000 (“the Rainbow City house”). The Rainbow City house had been subject to two mortgages: one with an outstanding balance of $170,000 and one with an outstanding balance of between $60,000 and $65,000. The parties lived in the Rainbow City house until 2008.

In May 2005, the parties purchased a house “on the water” for $445,000 (“the Southside house”). At the time of trial, the Southside house was subject to three mortgages with outstanding balances of $380,000, $60,000 to $65,000, and $40,000, respectively.1 The parties had paid $5,400 [788]*788per month in mortgage payments on both houses for approximately 3 years, until they sold the Rainbow City house in 2008. However, they financed the sale of the Rainbow City house, and the purchaser’s monthly payment of $1,437 was less than the $1,800 monthly payment that the parties owed on the outstanding mortgage on the Rainbow City house. See supra note 1. The purchaser of the Rainbow City house defaulted on his payments, the payments on the mortgage on the Rainbow City house increased to $2,375 per month, the payments on the mortgages on the Southside house increased to $4,100, and the parties lacked the funds to pay the combined mortgage payments.

The husband declared bankruptcy in 2008. His tax liability was included in his reorganization plan, but both houses were foreclosed upon by their respective mortgagees. The husband was originally required to pay $4,933 per month under his bankruptcy plan over a 5-year period; his monthly payment was increased to $5,032 in late 2010.

The wife is unemployed. She suffers from sarcoidosis, which is an autoimmune-deficiency disorder that causes the body to attack itself as it would an infection. The disease often attacks muscular organs, causing inflammation that results in scar tissue, thus reducing the elasticity of the organ tissue. The wife’s sarcoidosis affects her lungs and her joints. She takes several medications, including a prescribed steroid and methadone for pain, to treat the symptoms of the disease. She also takes an antidepressant and medication to help her sleep.

Although the husband admitted that the wife’s disease is at least partly disabling, he said that the wife used the disease as a crutch. He said that the wife left much of the care of the children and the arranging of their schedules to him; the husband said that he would take other children to school in the mornings in exchange for other mothers’ picking his children up from school and taking them home or to after-school activities. He said he also did the majority of the shopping for the family-

The husband said that he had decided that he wanted a divorce because he was “tired of being in a marriage by himself.” He said that he already felt like a single parent. He described the wife as selfish, stating that “she would do what she wanted to do when she wanted to do it” and stating that she showed complete disregard of the wishes or needs of her family. The husband denied having engaged in an affair with any woman, although he said that the wife had accused him on more than one occasion of having had an affair. The husband specifically denied the allegation that he had engaged in an affair with a neighbor who was the mother of a close friend of the parties’ younger child around the time of the parties’ separation. He admitted that he did speak to the neighbor on the telephone often, stating that they would discuss them children. He admitted that a note written in his handwriting included the neighbor’s first name; however, he stated that he did not recall writing the note and that he did not know to what the note referred.

The husband testified and provided an exhibit that indicated that in 2010 his average monthly income, after his business expenses were deducted, was $14,514.53. From that amount, the husband paid his monthly bankruptcy-plan payment of $5,032; monthly estimated federal income taxes of $4,100; monthly estimated state income taxes of $450; and $1,350 in child support for one child, $1,000 per month in temporary alimony to the wife, and $1,400 in postminority educational expenses for the parties’ older child, obligations that he [789]*789had voluntarily assumed while the divorce action was pending. The husband had $1,182.53 left after those expenses were deducted with which to pay for his rent, utilities, groceries, and other expenses. Deducting his $595 in monthly rent from his remaining income leaves the husband $587.58 per month for utilities, groceries, and other expenses. The husband testified at trial that COBRA insurance benefits for the wife would cost $571 per month.

The wife presented both documentary and testimonial evidence of her monthly expenses. She presented an exhibit in which she listed her monthly expenses, including an estimated house payment of $2,000, as being $6,135 per month. Although the wife testified that the power bill was $325, her exhibit lists the amount spent each month on the power bill as $500. She lists on her exhibit a DirecTV bill of $150 per month; the husband, however, stated that the DirecTV bill was around $100 per month. The wife also claimed to spend $1,000 per month for groceries, toiletries, and household products, an amount that she tacitly admitted might be somewhat exorbitant when she testified that the husband had always preferred to do the shopping because he thought that she spent too much money.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
89 So. 3d 786, 2012 WL 335877, 2012 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 28, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alfred-v-alfred-alacivapp-2012.