Holman v. Holman

228 S.W.3d 628, 2007 Mo. App. LEXIS 1073, 2007 WL 2128850
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 26, 2007
Docket28015
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 228 S.W.3d 628 (Holman v. Holman) 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
Holman v. Holman, 228 S.W.3d 628, 2007 Mo. App. LEXIS 1073, 2007 WL 2128850 (Mo. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Appellant William Hill Holman (“Husband”) appeals the trial court’s judgment dissolving his marriage to Respondent La-Vonne Carol Holman (“Wife”). As discussed below, Husband alleges five points of trial court error, chiefly centered on the trial court’s determination that Wife acquired marital interests in the increased value of real property titled solely in Husband’s name together with the trial court’s division of these marital interests. Husband also challenges the trial court’s determination that the antenuptial agreement entered into by the parties was unconscionable and, thus, unenforceable.

In a dissolution proceeding, this Court must affirm the trial court’s decree of dissolution “unless there is no substantial evidence to support it, unless it is against the weight of the evidence, or unless it erroneously declares or applies the law.” In re Marriage of Thomas, 199 S.W.3d 847, 851 (Mo.App.2006). “The trial court is given broad discretion in dividing property and we will interfere with its decision only if the division is so unduly weighted in favor of one party that it amounts to an abuse of discretion.” Id. “Judging credibility and assigning weight to evidence and testimony are matters ‘for the trial court, which is free to believe none, part, or all of the testimony of any witnesses.’ ” Love v. Love, 72 S.W.3d 167, 171 (Mo.App.2002) (quoting In re Marriage of Haugh, 978 S.W.2d 80, 82 (Mo.App.1998)). ‘We review the evidence and inferences in the light most favorable to the trial court’s decision and disregard all contrary evidence and inferences.” Thomas, 199 S.W.3d at 851.

Viewing the record in the light most favorable to the trial court’s judgment, Kirkwood v. Kirkwood, 77 S.W.3d 675, 680 (Mo.App.2002), the record reveals the parties were married on October 20, 1991, and separated on November 4, 2004. There were no children born of the marriage. Before marrying, the parties executed an antenuptial agreement (“the Agreement”). 1

Wife testified at trial that prior to the parties’ marriage she owned a home in Rogers, Arkansas, which she sold for $75,000.00 when she moved in with Husband. Before their wedding, Wife gave Husband $20,000.00 “to pay for half of the home that [they] bought” together in Cass-ville, Missouri. Husband also contributed money toward the purchase of this home (“the Cassville house”). When the Cass-ville house was purchased, it was titled jointly and the home loan was signed by both parties. The parties later sold the Cassville house for $45,000.00.

At the time of the parties’ marriage, Husband owned a house (“the Farmhouse”) on thirty acres, but was not living at that location because his ex-wife resided there. When Husband’s former wife vacated the Farmhouse in May of 1992, Husband and Wife began remodeling it. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the Cassville house were used by the parties to remodel the Farmhouse. Wife testified that when she and Husband took possession of the Farmhouse it “wasn’t livable” and they “gutted it.” Wife testified the parties spent $90,000.00 remodeling the Farmhouse. She stated the parties took out a loan for the remodeling, the *632 amount of which is not clearly revealed by the record. Wife testified without objection that the Farmhouse was valued at $54,640.00 when the parties began remodeling it shortly after Husband’s ex-wife vacated the home. Wife also stated that after the remodeling, the Farmhouse was appraised at the time of trial for $185,000.00, and she valued the marital interest in the Farmhouse at $130,360.00, being the difference in. the value of $54,640.00 prior to remodeling and the value of $185,000.00 after remodeling.

Wife also testified the parties borrowed $75,000.00 to construct a commercial building (“the Commercial Building”) on real property (“the Commercial Property”) Husband inherited during the course of the marriage when his father passed away in 1997. According to Wife, Husband made all of the payments on the loan for the Commercial Building out of their joint account. 2 She testified without objection that at the time Husband inherited the Commercial Property the value of the “bare land” was $30,000.00. Wife also testified the parties spent $62,000.00 on the Commercial Building together with $5,600.00 constructing a parking lot adjacent to it. She stated the parties received rental income from the Commercial Building and that she opened a business in the newly constructed Commercial Building. Wife also related she purchased fixtures for her business with $15,000.00 of her own money and the fixtures were then sold with the business. Wife also testified she placed the money she received from selling the business into her separate account to pay for her “living expenses” and “personal needs.”

Wife also stated the Commercial Building and Commercial Property were appraised shortly before trial at $127,000.00. Wife opined that the value of the marital interest in the Commercial Building and Commercial Property was $97,000.00, that is $127,000.00 for the Commercial Property plus the Commercial Building minus $30,000.00 for the “bare land” inherited by Husband.

The record also reveals that during the marriage the parties constructed a rental house (“the Rental House”) for Wife’s disabled son on the real property where the Farmhouse was located. Wife testified her son contributed $15,000.00 toward the construction of the Rental House. She also related the property was appraised prior to trial at $66,000.00 and she believed the parties invested approximately $74,677.00 in the building of the Rental House. To build the Rental House, the parties took out a loan and Husband used the rental payments collected on the Rental House to make payments on the loan.

In his testimony, Husband related the parties purchased the Cassville house prior to their marriage for $40,000.00 and Wife contributed $20,000.00 to that purchase. He stated they owed $20,000.00 on the *633 Cassville house when it sold. He took the $20,000.00 remaining from the sale of the Cassville house and “got a check that was made out to both of [them], and [he] asked her what she wanted to do with it. She said for [him] to keep it, and [he] deposited it in [his] account.” When the parties started to remodel the Farmhouse in 1993, they used that money in the remodeling process. He stated Wife never contributed any of her separate funds toward the remodeling of the Farmhouse and never made any payments on the Farmhouse loan from her own bank account.

Husband also testified he gave Wife money to start her business in the newly constructed Commercial Building because, “[h]er money was tied up in CDs” and “when the CD matured she repaid [him].” He stated he paid for some of the fixtures for Wife’s business “[i]n the beginning, but she repaid [him]” and she placed the profits from her business in her bank account.

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

Related

Ritter v. Mo. Sec'y of State John Ashcroft
561 S.W.3d 74 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2018)
Porter v. City of St. Louis
552 S.W.3d 166 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2018)
Geske v. Geske
421 S.W.3d 490 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2013)
Johnson v. Medtronic, Inc.
365 S.W.3d 226 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2012)
Marriage of Glenn v. Glenn
345 S.W.3d 320 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2011)
Groenings v. Groenings
277 S.W.3d 270 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2008)
In Re the Marriage of Altergott
259 S.W.3d 608 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2008)
In Re Marriage of Fisher
258 S.W.3d 852 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2008)
Muilenburg, Inc. v. Cherokee Rose Design & Build, L.L.C.
250 S.W.3d 848 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2008)
State v. Gee
228 S.W.3d 628 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2007)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
228 S.W.3d 628, 2007 Mo. App. LEXIS 1073, 2007 WL 2128850, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holman-v-holman-moctapp-2007.