Goldberg v. Goldberg

626 A.2d 1062, 96 Md. App. 771, 1993 Md. App. LEXIS 115
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedJuly 2, 1993
Docket1544, September Term, 1992
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 626 A.2d 1062 (Goldberg v. Goldberg) 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
Goldberg v. Goldberg, 626 A.2d 1062, 96 Md. App. 771, 1993 Md. App. LEXIS 115 (Md. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

*775 MOTZ, Judge.

Gary I. Goldberg, now 44, and Anita M. Goldberg,- now 41, were married in 1971. They have two children: Nicole, born June 13, 1976, and Jeffrey, born July 25, 1979. During their marriage, Mr. Goldberg worked long hours outside the home — first for a family trucking company and then as a real estate developer and investor and as the chief executive officer of a clothing manufacturer. On the other hand, Ms. Goldberg, although employed part time as a travel agent, spent most of her married life in equally long hours working in activities centered around the home involved with being a wife and mother. The parties accumulated substantial assets during their marriage. When the trial of this case began on January 22, 1992, the parties agreed that they had been separated since October 14, 1989, and that the separation was mutual and voluntary with the express intent and purpose of ending their marriage. Virtually every other issue, except for custody of their children, was vigorously contested. As to custody, it was agreed that Mr. and Ms. Goldberg would have joint custody of Nicole and Jeffrey; Nicole’s primary residence would be with her mother and Jeffrey’s would be with his father. After seven days of testimony, this agreement was repudiated by Jeffrey’s counsel and by Ms. Goldberg and so the custody and primary residence of Jeffrey also became a contested issue.

Judge Dana Levitz of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County heard a total of nine days of testimony from numerous witnesses including four experts, and received into evidence 115 exhibits. At the conclusion of the testimony the court reviewed extensive proposed findings of fact submitted by the parties and heard closing argument for approximately three hours. On March 4, 1992, Judge Levitz issued a sensitive, well reasoned, 31 page opinion in which he meticulously made numerous findings of fact, explained the basis for those find *776 ings, and carefully applied the law to the facts. 1 Mr. Goldberg appeals, raising five questions:

1. Did the lower court err in the monetary award
A. By adding all values and then subtracting the total of the marital debt father than subtracting marital debt from the value of each item of marital property and then totalling the net values?
B. By utilizing incorrect appraisals or methods?
2. Did the court err in determining alimony, child support and the monetary award
A. Did the court err in finding as a fact husband’s ability to earn $400,000.00 a year when husband’s employment ended without fault of husband?
B. Was child support based upon erroneously attributed income?
C. Was alimony based upon erroneously attributed income?
3. Should custody of the son have been awarded to husband?
4. Was the removal of husband as custodian of Uniform Gifts to Minors Act Accounts in error?
5. Was the award of counsel fees and costs to wife excessive?

Ms. Goldberg cross appeals, conditionally, asking us to consider the following issues only if we determine a remand is necessary because of the questions raised by Mr. Goldberg’s appeal:

6. Did the trial court err when it subtracted appellant’s debt from marital property without first determining that it was marital debt and was appellant harmed by the error?
7. Did the trial court err when it failed to award indefinite alimony to appellee?
*777 8. Did the trial court err in failing to award more of appellee’s counsel fees and costs to her?

(i)

Mr. Goldberg initially asserts that the circuit court erred in two respects in making a monetary award to Ms. Goldberg. Both involve the valuation of the marital assets. Mr. Goldberg’s principal claim of error is that the court relied upon “incorrect appraisal methodology” in determining the value of marital property.

In making the monetary award, the circuit court first determined which assets were marital property and then individually valued each of the assets. See Md.Code (1957, 1992 Repl. Vol., 1992 Supp.), §§ 8-203, 8-204 of the Family Law Article. Specifically, the court found that Ms. Goldberg’s total assets had a value of $240,000, that she had “no significant debts” and that “the marital portion of those assets is $163,000; the non-marital portion is $75,000.” 2 It found that Mr. Goldberg had assets of $2,950,000 and liabilities of approximately $996,-000 for a net worth of $1,954,000; it further found that $1,899,000 of Mr. Goldberg’s “net worth is marital [assets] and $55,000 is non marital.” Mr. Goldberg claimed below that certain assets titled in his name were his property alone; the circuit court rejected this claim, finding all five of these disputed assets marital property. On appeal Mr. Goldberg does not assert that the court erred in any way in determining which property was marital and which was non-marital.

Mr. Goldberg does vehemently assert, however, that the circuit court erred in valuing some of the marital property. Approximately $1 million of the marital property, titled in Mr. Goldberg’s name, was real estate and bank accounts, marketable securities, or other liquid assets; Mr. Goldberg does not dispute the value given to this portion of the marital property. The remainder of the marital assets that were titled in Mr. *778 Goldberg’s name were interests in partnerships or closely held corporations or demand notes owed by the closely held corporations to Mr. Goldberg. It is the values the circuit court placed on some of these interests that Mr. Goldberg claims is error.

We note at the-outset that many witnesses — including Mr. Goldberg’s own accountant — testified that Mr. Goldberg was, as the circuit court found, “an astute, diligent and cautious investor.” His net worth statements indicated that in the recent past virtually all of his assets were liquid. The parties came to own “illiquid” assets because, as the circuit court noted, “[sjince 1987 when [Mr. Goldberg] first suggested a divorce ... he has invested approximately two million dollars of liquid assets into businesses and ventures that are extremely illiquid and whose values in the interim appear to be depressed because of the current economy.” Judge Levitz further found that Mr. Goldberg

was astute enough when he invested to believe that the effect of these investments would cause their value to appear to be less in the short term for the purposes of these proceedings.

We have carefully reviewed the enormous record — there is certainly substantial support for these findings. Mr. Goldberg’s own expert conceded on cross examination that over the “course of the last two years” Mr. Goldberg “took $2jé to $3 million in liquid assets” and put them into partnerships and closely held corporations. Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
626 A.2d 1062, 96 Md. App. 771, 1993 Md. App. LEXIS 115, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/goldberg-v-goldberg-mdctspecapp-1993.