Friend v. Friend

376 S.W.3d 519, 2010 Ark. App. 525, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 563
Court of Appeals of Arkansas·Decided June 23, 2010·No. No. CA 09-1189·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

RITA W. GRUBER, Judge.

11 This divorce case has been before us previously, resulting in our unpublished opinion Friend v. Friend, CA07-779, 2008 WL 316128 (Ark.Ct.App. Feb. 6, 2008). We remanded and directed the trial court to explain its division of the income that Raymond Friend had received during the parties’ separation and to make clear findings as to the amount of gold and silver he possessed and the amount to be awarded to each party. Lastly, we held that the trial court could reconsider the parties’ personal property in relation to the total disposition of their property.

On remand, the trial court sent a letter to the parties’ attorneys. It directed Raymond to produce to Alice thirteen ounces of gold and fifty ounces of silver, one-half of the amounts that he had admitted possessing in his deposition. The trial court added:

laWhat I had 'intended to rule in regard to the Sedna monies1 was that the undeposited funds were the only Sedna funds that remained uncomingled with other marital assets and that these should be divided equally. That is, $12,569.78 to each party. The remaining funds were deposited into a marital account and should be accounted for as part and parcel of these marital funds. This is all marital income received by Raymond during the marriage and the pendency of this divorce. The records on this are a mess. The court could not determine anything much from the evidence submitted. The court intended to rule that any funds expended by Raymond toward marital expenses should be credited to Raymond prior to equal division of all marital funds received by him during the pendency of the divorce. In order to make any sense of this a forensic accountant needs to be appointed by the court at the parties’ expense to make a determination as to what happened to all these monies. This is of course separate from the monies that Mr. Friend tried to hide in the little scam of the cashiers checks. This can be avoided and the costs can be as well if the parties can settle this matter or stipulate as to the marital monies that have passed through Mr. Friend’s hands.
As to the personal property I was under the impression that this had been agreed upon with the exception of some 8 items. Ms. Friend was to go to the Shady residence and secure those items she had agreed to take. This never occurred. The court has no knowledge of the extent of the property items and each party will have to account for them and to itemize them. In the event that the items cannot be agreeably divided then the court will appoint an auctioneer to appraise and then we will have a sale. If the parties cannot divide their property prior to the sale the money received from the sale can be easily divided by the court.
I reached my frustration level in this case and it will be concluded. If either of you have a differing interpretation of the court’s remand please advise.

Because the parties had not reached an agreement dividing the personal property, the circuit court appointed auctioneers to appraise, inventory, and sell all of the parties’ property and ordered Raymond to cooperate. It also directed them to account for any property that they had removed from their residence in Alabama and warned that any noncompliance could 13result in their being jailed for willful contempt. The sale of the items in Raymond’s possession brought in $41,055.75, and the sale of those in Alice’s possession produced $2,527.65.

In November 2008, Alice asked the court to hold Raymond in contempt after she discovered that he had secreted and failed to sell various items. She said that Raymond had failed to sell a wrecker and that a neighbor had discovered another item hidden in thick underbrush on Raymond’s property. She asked that Raymond be jailed; that the court award her the items secreted by him; and that it award her attorney’s fees and costs. She also asked the court to order Raymond to reimburse her for the added expense of addressing bogus 1099 tax forms that he had caused to be filed with the IRS and for marital debts that she had paid. She further asked for a declaratory judgment as to the remaining gold and silver.

The same day, Alice moved for partial summary judgment on the issues of the distribution of the Sedna and real-estate income. She stated that each party had already received $12,569.78, which reflected one-half of the undeposited Sedna funds that Raymond had received. Alice also stated that the court could resolve the issues as to the remaining marital income received by Raymond (the deposited Sedna funds, the income from the two contracts of sale, and the income from the lease of the shop) by reconsidering the evidence that had been introduced at trial. Alice asserted that the uncontroverted amount of income that Raymond had received during the divorce action was $87,814.54, from which should be subtracted the $25,139.56 that had already been divided between the parties. She stated that the balance of $62,674.98 should be reduced by the $3,000 in temporary alimony that Raymond had paid |4her, leaving $59,674.98 in income that he had retained to her exclusion, which, according to the circuit court, was to be .divided equally between the parties after deducting any marital expenses paid by Raymond. She pointed out that, in response to questioning from his attorney at trial, Raymond had acknowledged that the only marital debt he had paid during that time was $12,473.92 ($779.02 monthly) toward the mortgage on the house in Alabama.2 After deducting this amount, $47,201.06 was received by Raymond to her exclusion; she asked for half, $23,600.53.

Raymond moved for Alice to be held in contempt for failing to produce certain items of marital personal property for auction. He also alleged that the parties had reached an agreement whereby each would receive one parcel of land in Polk County; although he had signed and delivered his deed to Alice, she had failed to reciprocate. In response, Alice explained that she had not given him the signed deed because he had not yet provided her with an accounting of the balance due on the contract to purchase the land to be conveyed to her.

In January 2009, Raymond’s attorney sent a letter to the trial court acknowledging that, during the separation of the parties, his client had received $66,364.54 from Sedna; $10,400 from renting the shop; and $11,050 from the two contracts on the land. He agreed that, from the $87,814.54 he had received, he should receive credit for $25,139.56 already divided | ^between the parties; $3,000 in temporary support he had paid Alice; and $12,473.92 for his payments on the property in Alabama, leaving a remainder of $47,201.06. He alleged that Raymond was also entitled to receive credits for twenty-one additional items. He concluded:

It is. submitted that, after deduction of the aforesaid credits in the sum of $31,763.50, the remaining balance of $15,437.56 is involved in this proceeding and that Mrs. Friend’s one-half (⅛) thereof is in the sum of $7,718.78.
I’m attached [sic] hereto as Exhibit B copies of two (2) checks which were paid by my client to Mrs. Friend and the total of these two (2) checks is in the sum of $19,576.19. The sum of $12,569.78 from these two (2) checks was for Mrs.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Friend v. Friend, 376 S.W.3d 519, 2010 Ark. App. 525, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 563 (Ark. Ct. App. 2010).

376 S.W.3d 519 (Friend v. Friend) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

James Gillum v. Lindsey Gillum
2025 Ark. App. 95 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2025)
Grimsley v. Drewyor
2019 Ark. App. 218 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2019)
Hudson v. Hudson
555 S.W.3d 902 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2018)
Webb v. Webb
2014 Ark. App. 697 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2014)
Ward v. Ward
2014 Ark. App. 261 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2014)
Adams v. Adams
2014 Ark. App. 67 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2014)
Dew v. Dew
390 S.W.3d 764 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2012)
Bamburg v. Bamburg
386 S.W.3d 31 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2011)
Johnson v. Johnson
378 S.W.3d 889 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2011)