Boyd v. Boyd

390 So. 2d 644, 1980 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 1173
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedNovember 5, 1980
DocketCiv. 2227
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 390 So. 2d 644 (Boyd v. Boyd) 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
Boyd v. Boyd, 390 So. 2d 644, 1980 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 1173 (Ala. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

BRADLEY, Judge.

This is a divorce case.

Raymond R. Boyd filed a petition in the Circuit Court of Montgomery County, Alabama on May 30, 1979 seeking a divorce from his wife, Florence Boyd, on the grounds of incompatibility of temperament and irretrievable breakdown of the couple’s marriage. After an ore tenus hearing, the trial court found that an irretrievable breakdown of the marriage of plaintiff and defendant had occurred and entered a decree divorcing them on October 11, 1979. In the decree the wife was given the exclusive right to occupy the couple’s Montgomery residence for two years from the decree, although she was permitted to sell it at any time during this period. After the expiration of this time interval, she would have an additional eight months within which to sell the house. If she had not sold it by the end of this period, the husband would have the right to sell it. Regardless of who eventually sold the house, however, the husband would receive forty percent of the proceeds from its sale while the wife would receive sixty percent of such proceeds. Mrs. Boyd was also awarded possession of all furniture in the home with the exception of the den furniture which the court gave to Mr. Boyd. The husband was awarded exclusive possession of the couple’s Florida condominium upon conditions identical to those imposed by the court upon the parties’ Montgomery residence except that (1) the husband would be entitled to receive sixty percent of the proceeds generated from its sale while the wife would be entitled to receive only the remaining forty percent of such proceeds, and (2) the wife would have the right to sell the condominium if the husband had not already sold it within two years and eight months of the court’s decree. Mr. Boyd was awarded sole possession of all furniture and furnishings in the condominium as well as a sailboat. Each party was directed to pay all taxes and insurance and to make all mortgage payments on his or her own residence. The husband was permitted to retain possession of his 1977 Mercedes and the wife was allowed to maintain possession of her 1977 Oldsmobile; however, each party was ordered to assume complete liability for all mortgage payments that remained to be paid on his or her respective automobile.

Paragraph seven of the court’s decree provided as follows:

7. For a period of three years from the date of the first periodic alimony payment hereunder, Husband shall pay to Wife the sum of $2,537.00 per month or until the Bell Road residence is sold, whichever event first occurs. When the residence of the parties is sold or after a period of three years from the first payment hereunder whichever event first occurs, alimony payments shall be reduced to $2,000.00 per month. Said payments of periodic alimony of $2,000.00 shall continue for the lifetime of the parties except that in the event Wife remarries, Husband shall have no further obligation to make alimony payments to Wife. The first payment of alimony shall be made on or before the 5th day of October, 1979, and further payments shall be made on or before the 5th day of each succeeding month.

Subsequent to the issuance of this decree, the husband, on October 18, 1979, filed a motion for rehearing with the court asking it to reduce its award of periodic alimony to the wife. After granting the motion and conducting such a hearing, the circuit court entered an amended decree of divorce on January 7,1980, modifying paragraph seven of the court’s original decree. This amended paragraph provided that:

[646]*646For a period of two years and ten months from December 1, 1979 or until the Bell Road residence is sold, [whichever] event occurs first, Husband shall pay Wife the sum of $2,037.00 per month as periodic alimony. In addition to the aforementioned monthly periodic alimony, Husband shall pay to Wife the sum of $5,000.00 on June 1, 1980, and the sum of $6,000.00 for each year thereafter on the first day of June. When the residence is sold or after a period of two years and ten months from December 1, 1979, whichever event occurs first, periodic monthly alimony payments to Wife shall be reduced to $1,500.00 per month. The Husband shall continue in addition to the monthly payments to pay the Wife $6,000.00 as periodic alimony on the first day of June of each year. The periodic alimony payments of $5,000.00 in June, 1980 and $6,000.00 thereafter are payable on the first day of June each year and are not conditioned on any bonus being received by Husband in his employment. All periodic alimony payments ordered by this Court shall continue for the lifetime of the parties, except that in the event the Wife remarries, the Husband shall have no further obligation to make alimony payments to the Wife.

From this decree the husband has appealed, alleging that the trial court erred as a matter of law in dividing the couple’s real and personal property and abused its discretion in determining the amount of periodic alimony which defendant was to receive from plaintiff. We disagree and, for the reasons hereafter set out, affirm the trial court’s amended decree of divorce in all respects.

Plaintiff and defendant were married in 1956 while plaintiff was attending the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Shortly after their marriage, Mrs. Boyd took a job with Emory University’s medical school, where she assisted in eye research and attended night classes in chemistry and biology. However, she never earned a college degree and she quit her job at the University when her husband received his degree from Georgia Tech. A son and a daughter were born of the couple’s marriage but, at the time of trial in this cause, only the daughter was still dependent upon one or both of her parents for a substantial portion of her support. Mr. and Mrs. Boyd resided in Atlanta until 1968 when they moved to Montgomery and purchased their present home on Bell Road. The fair market value of this home was variously estimated at between $100,000 and $160,000. Although the correct value of all furnishings in the house was in substantial dispute, we believe that the trial court could have reasonably concluded that their market value lay somewhere between $15,000 and $60,000.

Mr. Boyd is currently a vice president of Blount International, Inc., a construction firm with offices not only in Montgomery but also in the Middle East. His projected salary for the year 1980-81 was estimated to be between $65,000 and $100,000, depending upon whether it included a bonus of approximately $30,000 which he might or might not receive due to certain financial setbacks which Blount had recently suffered in its Middle East operations. Uncon-troverted testimony tended to show that he had enjoyed substantial increases in his yearly salary and bonus for at least five years preceding the instant suit.

Mrs. Boyd earned approximately $3,600 in real estate commissions in 1974, had a renewable real estate broker’s license, was taking several night courses at Auburn University in Montgomery, and admitted on cross examination that she was physically able to seek gainful employment and did not assume that she was entitled to live off Mr. Boyd’s earnings for the rest of her life. No evidence was adduced, however, tending to show that she was employed at the time of the present litigation or that her earning prospects would be substantially greater than $3,600 per year in the foreseeable future.

We have repeatedly stated that:

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Related

Boyd v. Boyd
447 So. 2d 790 (Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama, 1984)
Peek v. Peek
417 So. 2d 212 (Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama, 1982)
Hallmark v. Hallmark
394 So. 2d 44 (Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama, 1981)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
390 So. 2d 644, 1980 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 1173, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boyd-v-boyd-alacivapp-1980.