Holland v. Holland

865 S.W.2d 867, 1993 Mo. App. LEXIS 1841, 1993 WL 490230
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 24, 1993
DocketNo. 18505
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 865 S.W.2d 867 (Holland v. Holland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Holland v. Holland, 865 S.W.2d 867, 1993 Mo. App. LEXIS 1841, 1993 WL 490230 (Mo. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

PARRISH, Chief Judge.

Elizabeth Holland (wife) appeals the amount of maintenance and the property division in an action for dissolution of marriage brought by Robert J. Holland (husband). This court affirms.

Wife was awarded maintenance in the amount of $950.00 per month. In the property division, she received real estate valued at $12,000.00 (the “Acorn Ridge property”); household goods and possessions; any bank accounts or deposits she had “in her sole name”; clothing and personal effects; a 1987 Mercury automobile, subject to indebtedness secured by it; and the right to reside in the dwelling house that had been the family residence, rent free.

The dwelling house was situate on “the Holland farm” that was awarded to husband. The right to reside in the dwelling house was “for so long as [wife] elects to continue to residing [sic] there, so long as [the property] is owned by [husband].” The trial court further ordered, “If [husband] makes a voluntary conveyance ..., as opposed to a foreclosure, the conveyance shall be subject to the [wife’s] rights of residence in the dwelling house.” Wife was ordered to hold husband harmless against the debt that was secured by the 1987 Mercury automobile.

Husband was awarded the Holland farm that the trial court found to be of “a value of approximately $156,000.00.” The Holland farm was encumbered by a deed of trust that secured a debt in the amount of $700,000.00 owed by both parties to Farmers Home Administration. Husband was also awarded a tract of real estate known as the “Sandy’s Cafe property” that was subject to deeds of trust that secured debts of approximately $34,000.00. The debts were owed by both parties. The trial court found that the value of the Sandy’s Cafe property was “substantially the same as the combined amount of the debts secured by it.”

Other marital property awarded to husband included farm machinery and equipment; a 1990 Ford pickup truck encumbered by a $15,000.00 debt; various other trucks used in a farming operation and chicken litter business that husband operated; a john boat, motor and trailer; “600 bushels of seed wheat valued at $3.50 per bushel; 8,000 bushels of corn valued at $2.90 per bushel; 30 large bales of hay valued at $15.00 per bale; 2,000 bales of straw valued at $1.50 per bale; 4,000 ton[s] of chicken litter in stockpiles; approximately 55 head of brood cows, 2 bulls and an undetermined number of calves, all of which cattle [were] valued at approximately $45,000.00.” He was awarded a “contract for chicken litter with Hudson Foods” that represented a business husband operated.

In addition to the debts secured by the tracts of real estate, and the debts secured by the 1987 Mercury automobile and the 1990 Ford pickup truck, the trial court found the parties had other marital debts that to-talled $587,997.00. Of that amount, the trial court concluded that $498,594.00 was secured by farm machinery, cattle, crops and equipment used in the chicken litter business. The trial court found “that said debts exceeded] the reasonable market value of the marital personal property.” The trial court [869]*869ordered husband “to assume and pay all of the marital debts [other than that secured by the 1987 Mercury automobile awarded to wife] and to hold the [wife] harmless from the same.”

Both husband and wife were 58-years old at the time of the trial. They had been married since December 14, 1956. Husband suffered a heart attack in June 1991 and is diabetic. Wife was hospitalized for uterine cancer in November 1991 and underwent surgery in December 1991. She received radiation therapy following her surgery. The therapy had been completed at the time of the trial.

In November 1991, sometime after Thanksgiving, husband began living with another woman and her two children. He testified that they intended to marry following the dissolution of his current marriage.

Our review of this case is governed by Rule 73.01 and Murphy v. Carron, 536 S.W.2d 30 (Mo. banc 1976). We will sustain the trial court’s decree unless there is no substantial evidence to support it, unless it is against the weight of the evidence, unless it erroneously declares the law, or unless it erroneously applies the law. Id. at 32. Further, we view the evidence as favorable to the decree, disregarding contrary evidence and deferring to the trial court even if the evidence could support a different conclusion. Ware v. Ware, 647 S.W.2d 582, 584 (Mo.App.1983).

Bixler v. Bixler, 810 S.W.2d 95, 99 (Mo.App.1991).

Wife contends, by her first point on appeal, that the trial court erred in awarding maintenance in the amount of $950.00 per month. She contends the amount is inadequate “when all of the evidence in the case shows [wife’s] entitlement to maintenance in excess of $950 per month.”

“The trial court has broad discretion in determining the amount of maintenance, and an appellate court will not interfere absent an abuse of discretion.” In re Marriage of Vinson, 839 S.W.2d 38, 43 (Mo.App.1992).

In our review we give deference to the trial court’s opportunity to have seen and heard the parties and to have judged their credibility. Plattner v. Plattner, 567 S.W.2d 139, 142 (Mo.App.1978).... The burden of demonstrating error in the judgment below is upon the appellant. Naeger v. Naeger, 542 S.W.2d 344, 346 (Mo.App.1976)

In re Marriage of Brewer, 592 S.W.2d 529, 532 (Mo.App.1979). The trial court was free to believe none, part or all of the testimony of any witness. Vinson, supra, at 42-43.

The only evidence wife presented regarding her living expenses and her request for maintenance was her response to three questions asked by her attorney. The following questions were asked and the following answers given:

Q. Elizabeth, are you asking this Court to give you your share, if a divorce is granted by the Court, to give you your share of the property?
A. Yes. I’ll have to have it. I wouldn’t have no way to live or no place to live.
Q. Are you asking the Court also to require Mr. Holland to pay to you maintenance, which used to be called alimony?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you have an idea as to how much money it would take you to keep body and soul together and live about like you lived before October of last year?
A. Well, I figured it up about what — if I live like I did before he left, you know, and kept all my bills paid and my insurance on my car and gas and everything like that, that it would take between $1,200 and $1,300 a month.

Wife offered no testimony or other evidence that disclosed the nature of the [870]*870monthly expenses she expected to incur.1 She offered no statement of personal income and expenses into evidence.

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Bluebook (online)
865 S.W.2d 867, 1993 Mo. App. LEXIS 1841, 1993 WL 490230, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holland-v-holland-moctapp-1993.