Helm v. Helm

873 N.E.2d 83, 2007 Ind. App. LEXIS 2009, 2007 WL 2481925
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 5, 2007
Docket01A04-0703-CV-175
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 873 N.E.2d 83 (Helm v. Helm) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Helm v. Helm, 873 N.E.2d 83, 2007 Ind. App. LEXIS 2009, 2007 WL 2481925 (Ind. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

OPINION

BRADFORD, Judge.

Respondent-Appellant Donna Helm appeals from the trial court’s division of the marital estate following the dissolution of her marriage to Petitioner-Appellee Steven Helm. We reorder and restate Donna’s claims as whether the trial court erred in excluding unpaid future lottery payments from the marital estate and whether such exclusion, if erroneous, constituted harmless error. We affirm.

FACTS

In December of 1987, Steven Helm won an Ohio lottery prize of $3,000,000, to be paid- in twenty annual installments of $150,000. After taxes, Steven netted approximately $117,000 from each annual payment. Steven had received two lottery payments by the time he married Donna Helm on May 15, 1989. On October 21, 2005, Steven filed a.petition for dissolution of marriage.

■ On January 10, 2007, by which time the last two annual lottery payments had been received, the trial court entered its dissolution decree. The trial court’s order provided, in relevant part:

4. That the marital estate consists of the following:
2003 Pontiac $ 14,000.00
*86 225,000.00 Marital Residence (including furnishings) co
1,000.00 Doll Collection co
46,290.32 Donna’s IRA Accounts
15,000.00 Christianson Art Prints
748,855.00 Stock, et al.
7,000.00 1997 Chevrolet Truck
325,000.00 Lake home ($50,000.00 due to Steven’s mother)
1,000.00 Kaleidoscope collection
87,330.00 Steve’s IRA and PERF
10,000.00 Florida Time Share
$ 1,480[,]445.32
Last lottery check due
(12-06) net: > — 1 i — 1 O o p o o
Total marital estate: CR <£> ^ cn co to
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It is also noted that the two (2) lottery checks received subsequent to the filing of the Petition for Dissolution of Marriage have been included in the marital estate, based on the actual amount received of $117,000.00.
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In the case at hand, Petitioner, Steven D. Helm, won the lottery before the parties married. While he commingled the proceeds every year, the lottery was vested in him alone. The parties invested a substantial amount of the lottery proceeds after taxes and still have that money. The parties agreed upon equal division of the commingled, invested proceeds. As to the lottery proceeds to be received after the filing of the Petition for Dissolution, that would seem to be traceable to his premarital efforts, albeit fortuitous efforts. Such circumstance seems no different from any other traceable asset acquired pre-marriage. In view of these circumstances, the Court believes that the statutory presumption of an equal division has been clearly rebutted and the Court finds husband’s proposed division of the marital estate just and reasonable.
5. The marital estate should be divided as follows:
WIFE
2003 Pontiac $ 14,000.00
Marital l'esidence and contents $225,000.00
Doll collection $ 1,000.00
Wife’s IRA accounts $ 46,290.32
Christianson ait prints $ 15,000.00
Stock et al. ($748,855.00 -
$117,000.00 = $631,855 -- $315,927.50)
$315,927.50
Total to wife: $617,217.82
HUSBAND
1997 Chevrolet Truck $ 7,000.00
Lake home (subject to Life Estate and $50,000.00 owed to Steve’s mother) $325,000.00
Kaleidoscope collection $ 1,000.00
Steve’s IRA and PERF $ 87,300.00
Florida Time Share $ 10,000.00
Stock et al. ($315,927.50 +
$117,000.00) $432,927.50
Lottery check due (12/06) $117,000.00
Total to husband: $980,027.75111

On February 9, 2007, Donna filed a Motion to Reconsider and Motion to Correct Errors, which the trial court denied on February 20, 2007. The trial court’s order provides, in relevant part:

Lotteries are a recent phenomenon nationally, such that no cases on p[o]int were found. In general, lottery winnings during the marriage should be shared equally. Lottery winnings following separation (post filing) go to the winning party absent dire circumstances of the other spouse and post dissolution winnings affect only child support. While lottery winnings are a game of chance, business opportunity and inheritance are equally a matter of good fortune. It does not seem appropriate to create a special category and treat it differently..
The general law seems to be that absent special consideration such as dire circumstances the pre-marital property *87 payable to the Petitioner post-filing for dissolution would pass to the Petitioner. The Court decided that the lottery proceeds to be received in the name of Steven D. Helm which he had won prior to the marriage and receivable post separation would go to Steven D. Helm. No dire circumstances were presented.

Donna now appeals the trial court’s distribution of the marital estate.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

I. Standard of Review

Where, as here, the trial court sua sponte enters specific findings of fact and conclusions, we review its findings and conclusions to determine whether the evidence supports the findings, and whether the findings support the judgment. Fowler v. Perry, 830 N.E.2d 97, 102 (Ind.Ct.App.2005). We will set aside the trial court’s findings and conclusions only if they are clearly erroneous. Id. A judgment is clearly erroneous when a review of the record leaves us with a firm conviction that a mistake was made. Id. We neither reweigh the evidence nor assess the witnesses’ credibility, and consider only the evidence most favorable to the judgment. Id. Further, “findings made sua sponte control only ... the issues they cover and a general judgment will control as to the issues upon which there are no findings.

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Bluebook (online)
873 N.E.2d 83, 2007 Ind. App. LEXIS 2009, 2007 WL 2481925, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/helm-v-helm-indctapp-2007.