Charles H. Griner, Jr. v. Melanie Griner

235 So. 3d 177
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJune 27, 2017
DocketNO. 2015-CA-01903-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 235 So. 3d 177 (Charles H. Griner, Jr. v. Melanie Griner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Charles H. Griner, Jr. v. Melanie Griner, 235 So. 3d 177 (Mich. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

IRVING, P.J.,

FOR THE COURT:

¶ 1. The Marion County Chancery Court granted Charles Griner (Chip) and Melanie Griner an irreconcilable-differences divorce and, pursuant to the parties’ agreement, resolved the issues that they were not able to resolve. Chip, being dissatisfied with the chancellor’s resolution of those issues, appeals and specifically asserts that the chancellor erred with respect to the following issues: (1) the division of the marital estate, (2) the assignment of responsibility for the marital debts, (3) the award of lump-sum alimony to Melanie, (4) and (5) other awards which exceed the scope of the issues that he and Melanie requested the court to address. Finding error in the chancellor’s evaluation of the marital estate, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.

FACTS

¶2. Melanie and Chip married on August 11, 1990, and later had two children, Natalie and Charlie. 1 During the'course of the marriage, Chip obtained a business degree from the University of Mississippi, while Melanie, with Chip’s consent, chose to stay home and care for the couple’s two children. Melanie never worked outside of the home, apart from briefly helping her mother with a drapery business. Chip pro *181 vided the family’s primary source of income through his position as a bank director and his participation in the “family business.” 2 As part of his involvement in one of the family-owned companies, Griner Energy, Chip came to own a twenty-five-percent interest in a condominium 3 in Destín, Florida, and the remaining seventy-five-percent interest was owned by Chip’s mother and two siblings. Additionally, Chip held a sizeable estate in the form of stocks. He contends that many were gifted to him by his grandparents prior to the marriage, while others were purchased in both Melanie and his names during the marriage.

¶3. Melanie and Chip separated on or about September 30, 2010. On September 22, 2011, the chancery court entered a temporary order, requiring Chip to pay $7,000 per month as support and private-school tuition for Charlie. Shortly thereafter, Chip filed a motion for relief from the temporary order, claiming that the $7,000-per-month figure had been erroneously calculated to include “ ‘phantom income’ in the form of dividends from bank stocks, capital gain year[-]end [income] and rental income,” which resulted in “a skewed monthly income” for him. The chancellor denied Chip’s motion.

¶ 4. On February 3,2012, Melanie filed a motion for appointment of a financial expert due to Chip’s “substantial [and] extremely complex” assets. Melanie asserted in the motion that she had no assets in her own name, as they were all titled in Chip’s name. The court granted Melanie’s motion and appointed Jim Koerber of The Koer-ber Company, P.A., “to determine valuation of assets of the parties, specifically the corporations of [Chip] and the cash flow derived therefrom,” and “to prepare a report for the [c]ourt.”

¶ 5. On April 14, 2015, the parties filed a written consent, wherein they agreed to a divorce on the ground of irreconcilable differences, but asked the chancellor to decide the following issues: (1) child support and related school issues and costs; (2) alimony; (3) equitable distribution of the marital assets; and (4) equitable distribution of the parties’ debts and liabilities. 4 The court conducted, a one-day, .trial on November 13, 2014, during which Koerber testified as to Chip’s finances. During his testimony, Koerber classified stocks as either marital or nonmarital; Koerber also calculated Chip’s gross income to be $354,044 annually. 5 At the end of the trial, the- chancellor entered a final judgment, the contents of which we summarize as follows:

1. Child support and related school issues and costs: The court held that, based on the past twelve years, Chip earned an average adjusted gross *182 ■income of somewhere between $275,000 and $325,000, ■ annually. Based on this amount of income, the .■court instructed Chip to pay Melanie $1,500 per month in child support for Cliarlie. The court also required Chip to continue to provide health insurance for Charlie until he. is emancipated. The court held that Chip and Melanie would divide equally all of Charlie’s non-covered medical expenses.
2. 'Alimony: The court applied the Armstrong 6 factors and required' Chip to pay Melanie periodic alimony in the amouht of $3,000 per month until her death or remarriage. The court also ordered Chip to pay Melanie an additional $4,000 per month for ten years, or a lump sum in the amount of $480,000. The court further required Chip to provide Melanie with health, insurance-benefits for the next eighteen years.-
3. Equitable distribution of the marital assets: The court conducted a Ferguson 7 analysis of the marital assets and, based on the stipulations, of the parties and 'Koerber’s testimo-' ny, determined that the following property was marital and. awarded Melanie seventy percent of it: the home and the.land;surrounding it; the Florida condo, described as Unit 1401 at Emerald Towers; “any business holdings;” Citizens Bank stock; First Federal Bank stock; Griner Drilling 401(k); and the AG Edwards IRA. The court also awarded Melanie a 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe and all the household furnishings, and personal property, but awarded Chip the exclusive use and possession of the' marital home until he purchased Melanie’s interest in-it. The court held that Melanie and Chip would keep their own checking accounts, including the balances therein. The court concluded by asserting-that,’in rendering its decision, it took into account Chip’s non-marital assets, which totaled over $7,000,000 and left Chip in a “far superb” position than Melanie.

The final judgment did not specifically address equitable distribution of the parties’ debts and liabilities.

¶ 6. Both Chip and Melanie filed motions, for a new trial or for reconsideration of the court’s final judgment. In response, the court entered a modified order, which we summarize as follows:

1. Child support and related school issues and costs: The court denied Chip’s request to reduce the amount of child support he was required to pay for Charlie. The court additionally required Chip to pay for the “maintenance, upkeep, tags, and insurance” costs for Charlie’s vehicle until Charlie reached twenty-one years of age. -
2. Alimony: The court denied Chip’s request to reduce the lump-sum alimony-award he was ordered to pay to Melanie, as well as his request to modify the provision of the' final-judgment requirement that he provide Melanie with health insurance for the next eighteen years. Additionally, the court required Chip to make Melanie the beneficiary of a $1 million life-insurance policy.
3. Equitable, distribution of the mari- ■ tal assets:

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Bluebook (online)
235 So. 3d 177, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/charles-h-griner-jr-v-melanie-griner-missctapp-2017.