Fox v. Fox

584 A.2d 128, 85 Md. App. 448, 1991 Md. App. LEXIS 14
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedJanuary 18, 1991
Docket370, September Term, 1990
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 584 A.2d 128 (Fox v. Fox) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fox v. Fox, 584 A.2d 128, 85 Md. App. 448, 1991 Md. App. LEXIS 14 (Md. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

BLOOM, Judge.

By judgment of absolute divorce, the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County terminated the marriage of Arthur V. Fox (hereinafter referred to as “Arthur” or “husband”) and Pamela K. Fox (hereinafter referred to as “Pamela” or “wife”). Neither party was satisfied with the financial aspects of the judgment, and both appealed.

All of Arthur’s complaints involve the determination that a corporation, of which he is sole stockholder, is marital property, and the valuation of that property. He presents to us the following questions:

1. Whether the trial court was correct in ruling that The Chem-Met Co. was marital property.
2. Whether the trial court acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner in increasing the value of The *451 Chem-Met Company’s inventory by 20% in computing the tangible asset value of the company.
3. Whether the trial court acted arbitrarily or without any factual basis in adjusting the appellant’s compensation and disregarding other expenses in determining the goodwill value of The Chem-Met Company.
4. Assuming that the capitalization of excess earnings method and the economic adjustments which were made by the appellee are valid, whether the court made an error in computing the goodwill figure for The Chem-Met Company.
5. Whether the trial court committed error in determining that The Chem-Met Company had goodwill.

Pamela’s complaints, on the other hand, involved the denial of alimony, suit money, and counsel fees and the valuation of Arthur’s retirement and profit sharing plans. She submits the following questions for our consideration.

1. Whether the trial court erred in refusing to award appellee alimony or a reservation thereof.
2. Whether the trial court erred when it elected to utilize the values of appellant’s retirement and profit sharing plans as of 30 September 1988, rather than the date of divorce, when determining what portion thereof would be transferred to appellee.
3. Whether the trial court erred when it failed to award appellee attorneys’ fees and suit money.

It appears to us that the chancellor may have made an arithmetical error or else misspoke when he determined the value of the corporation’s goodwill. We believe he also erred in calculating the value of Arthur’s retirement and profit sharing plans (both of which were marital property) by using outdated figures. Accordingly, we shall vacate the monetary award, based on those valuations. Our holding with respect to the monetary award requires that we also vacate the denial of alimony or the reservation thereof as well as the denial of attorney’s fees and suit money and remand to the circuit court for reconsideration. We find no *452 error or abuse of discretion with respect to the remaining issues raised by the parties.

Facts

The parties participated in a marriage ceremony on 3 May 1974, but the divorce that Pamela had obtained from her first husband in the District of Columbia less than thirty days earlier was not yet final. 1 The parties then went through a second marriage ceremony on 5 July 1974. The trial court in the case sub judice made a factual determination, not challenged by either party, that the lawful marriage occurred on the latter date.

For several years prior to his marriage, Arthur worked for Fox Investment Company, formerly known as The Chem-Met Co., a Delaware Corporation, of which his father, Abraham L. Fox, was sole stockholder. On 19 June 1974 (between Arthur’s first and second marriage ceremonies), Arthur, his father, and Raymond Hawryluk, another employee of the Fox Investment Company, acting as incorporators, formed a corporation, The Chem-Met Co., under the laws of the District of Columbia. The corporation was formed for the purpose of acquiring the assets of Fox Investment Company, it being Abraham Fox’s intention to retire. Apparently, Arthur’s father wanted his son to have a “partner,” or co-owner of the business, and Mr. Hawryluk had been recruited with that goal in mind. Mr. Hawryluk, however, decided not to remain in the business and resigned from it. Succeeding Hawryluk as a prospective co-owner of the business was Arthur's brother, Samuel L. Fox, who eventually agreed to come into the venture as of September 1974. Arthur and Samuel Fox each put $5,000 into the new corporation and acquired 100 shares of no par value common stock. On 1 October 1974, the Chem-Met Co. acquired *453 the going business and all of the assets of Fox Investment Co. for a total price of $189,000, the payment of which was to be in monthly installments over the course of years.

Following a heated quarrel between Arthur and his brother, on 3 September 1981 the corporation repurchased and retired all of Samuel Fox’s stock for $200,000, leaving Arthur as sole stockholder of The Chem-Met Co. Samuel also signed a covenant not to compete, for which he was paid a total of $250,000 in 60 monthly installments.

On 8 September 1989, the court issued a judgment of absolute divorce; granted the parties joint legal custody of their minor children, who were to reside primarily with their mother; awarded child support; ordered the husband to pay certain expenses; and denied alimony and counsel fees. The court reserved ruling on all other property and financial matters. On 12 October, the court ordered that the parties’ house be sold after certain repairs and improvements were made; again denied alimony and reservation of alimony; ordered that a certain bond and 600 shares of Cache stock owned by the husband be sold and the proceeds divided between the parties; granted the wife a monetary award equal to one-half of the value of The Chem-Met Co. as determined by the court and entered a monetary judgment in that amount; and ordered that the sums of $2,183.50, representing one-half of the value of the husband’s IRA, $112,439, representing one-half of the value of the husband’s profit sharing plan as of 30 September 1988, and $135,057.08, representing one-half of the value of the marital portion of the husband’s pension plan as of 30 September 1988, be transferred to the wife. 2 The court *454 having theretofore ordered the husband to pay some $6,666 in counsel fees, judgment was entered against him in that amount.

As noted supra, the only issues raised in the cross-appeals from the final judgment involve (1) the determination that the husband’s corporation was marital property and the valuation of that property, which resulted in a monetary award of $337,064, which was reduced to a judgment; (2) denial of alimony, suit money, and counsel fees; and (3) valuation of the husband’s profit sharing and pension plans. Additional facts relating to these issues will be set forth in the discussion to follow.

I

We now turn our attention to appellant’s first issue. Was the chancellor correct in ruling that The Chem-Met Co.

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Bluebook (online)
584 A.2d 128, 85 Md. App. 448, 1991 Md. App. LEXIS 14, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fox-v-fox-mdctspecapp-1991.