Blay v. Blay

51 A.D.3d 1189, 857 N.Y.S.2d 784
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided May 8, 2008·Published·Cited by 15 cases

Opinion

Kane, J.

Appeals (1) from a judgment of the Supreme Court (Teresi, J.), entered February 12, 2007 in Albany County, ordering, among other things, equitable distribution of the parties’ marital property, upon a decision of the court, and (2) from an order of said court, entered April 10, 2007, which granted defendant’s application for counsel fees.

The parties were married in June 1992 and have three children. In 1978, plaintiff and his brother established a partnership which performed landscaping and snow removal services. The brothers each held a 50% interest in the partnership. In [1190]*11901989, plaintiff and his brother purchased a 16-acre parcel of real estate. Plaintiff renovated the house on the property. This house, which later became the marital residence, was further improved during the marriage. Also during the marriage, a karate studio was built on the property, from which the parties taught karate classes.

Shortly after defendant informed plaintiff that she was unhappy with their relationship, plaintiff and his brother dissolved the partnership, formed a corporation in which the brother was the sole shareholder, formed a limited partnership and transferred most of the partnership’s assets to the limited partnership, including the land, marital residence and karate studio. The corporation was the general partner in the limited partnership with a 1% interest, plaintiff was a limited partner with a 12.75% interest and his brother was a limited partner with an 86.25% interest. According to plaintiff and his brother, the reorganization was undertaken to protect the partnership’s assets and to provide the brother with his fair share of the partnership’s value, as he had allegedly contributed all of the initial capital and drew only $50 per week from the business while plaintiff drew $350 per week. Plaintiff never informed defendant of this reorganization, or that he transferred the real property out of his own name.

In May 2005, plaintiff commenced this divorce action. Following a trial, Supreme Court rendered judgment granting a divorce to plaintiff, equitably distributing the marital assets, awarding maintenance to defendant and granting plaintiff sole legal custody of the children. Defendant filed an application for counsel fees, which was partially granted. Plaintiff appeals from both the judgment and the order awarding counsel fees.

Supreme Court did not err in awarding defendant portions of the real estate originally owned by plaintiff and his brother. The court found, under the circumstances, that the partnership dissolution and creation of the new business structure was invalid for purposes of equitable distribution, concocted as a sham to deprive defendant of her interest in marital assets. The court further found that the mortgage payments on the property, and money to improve the house and build the karate studio, came from partnership funds earned during the marriage, not from plaintiffs brother individually. As plaintiff was a half owner of the partnership, the mortgage was deemed paid with marital funds. Additionally, the marital residence was improved during the marriage through the addition of a basement bedroom and laundry room, new flooring and remodeling in the kitchen, installation of a hot tub and erection of an outdoor deck, presum[1191] ably with marital funds (see Dashnaw v Dashnaw, 11 AD3d 732, 733 [2004]; Cassara v Cassara, 1 AD3d 817, 818-819 [2003]; Carr v Carr, 291 AD2d 672, 676 [2002]). Thus, the court properly awarded defendant half the value of plaintiffs one-half interest in the property, after deducting the nonmarital percentage attributable to mortgage payments made prior to the marriage.

Similarly, based upon Supreme Court’s finding that the corporate reorganization was invalid as to equitable distribution and considering plaintiffs one-half ownership of the business, the court did not err in awarding defendant half of plaintiffs interest in the corporation’s bank accounts. We correct a mathematical error and award defendant $24,576.74 as her share of those accounts.

Defendant was entitled to distribution of the value of the CMC Jimmy vehicle that plaintiff purchased during the marriage. Despite plaintiffs testimony that he purchased the vehicle as a gift for defendant’s daughter who resided with him, he purchased it with marital funds and maintained title to it. Although plaintiff testified and provided documentary proof that a 1994 Ford Taurus was titled to his brother, partnership documents listed that vehicle as a partnership asset and plaintiff apparently used the vehicle regularly. Considering the way that plaintiff and his brother loosely adhered to the corporate form, we find no error in Supreme Court’s determination to deem this vehicle marital property in plaintiffs possession.

Supreme Court incorrectly distributed plaintiffs retirement assets. There is no proof that plaintiff or the partnership contributed to plaintiffs IRA account after the marriage. Any passive increase in value to this separate property was also separate property (see Domestic Relations Law § 236 [B] [1] [d] [1], [3]; Price v Price, 69 NY2d 8, 18 [1986]; Shen v Shen, 21 AD3d 1078, 1079-1080 [2005]; Lawson v Lawson, 288 AD2d 795, 796 [2001]). The court found that the partnership contributed to a Keogh retirement plan during the marriage, making part of the accrued value in that plan marital property. The court also held that the plan was established to benefit both plaintiff and his brother, yet awarded defendant half of the accrued value as if the entire plan was established to benefit plaintiff alone. Accordingly, we reduce defendant’s portion of the Keogh plan to $7,196.72 and award her no portion of plaintiffs IRA account.

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Blay v. Blay, 51 A.D.3d 1189, 857 N.Y.S.2d 784 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2008).

51 A.D.3d 1189 (Blay v. Blay) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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