In Re Marriage of Bredvick

248 S.W.3d 692, 2008 Mo. App. LEXIS 453, 2008 WL 859506
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 2, 2008
Docket28445
StatusPublished

This text of 248 S.W.3d 692 (In Re Marriage of Bredvick) 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
In Re Marriage of Bredvick, 248 S.W.3d 692, 2008 Mo. App. LEXIS 453, 2008 WL 859506 (Mo. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Appellant David Lee Bredvick (“Husband”) appeals the trial court’s “Judgment and Decree of Dissolution of Marriage” dissolving his marriage to Respondent Lorrie Suzanna Bredvick (“Wife”). He raises three points of trial court error. Appellant’s first point relied on is disposi-tive. We dismiss the appeal.

The record reveals the parties were married on October 5, 1996, and were separated by July 19, 2004. There were no children born of the marriage although both parties have children from previous marriages. During the parties’ marriage Husband was employed as a foreman for *693 Midwest Pipeline Services, but changed jobs prior to trial. At the time of trial, Husband was employed with Cross Country Road Boring where he worked a 40-hour week and made $80.00 per hour. Wife was forty one years old at the time of trial and was employed as general manager of La Mexican Kitchen, a restaurant owned by her mother. She earned $1,841.00 a month plus tips.

The parties own two adjoining tracts of real estate — both of which were purchased with money Wife received from the dissolution of her previous marriage. 1 The first tract of land is comprised of five acres where the parties built a 6,800 square foot house after they were married. The second tract consists of thirty-five acres of pastureland upon which the parties built a barn for their horses. The parties both contributed physical labor and financial support to the building of the home and the barn. Husband testified the total value of the parties’ real estate was $400,000.00; Wife testified it was valued at $810,000.00; and James Jones, the county assessor for Webster County, testified the house and five acres were assessed at $271,600.00 and the 35 acres and barn were assessed at $8,900.00. The parties testified that the majority of the furniture in the home came from Wife’s previous marriage and that some furniture was purchased during the marriage. Husband admitted he brought few possessions into the marriage other than a television, an entertainment center, a bed, his personal vehicle, and clothing. Wife testified that in addition to the money used to buy the real property at issue and the furniture mentioned above, at the time of the parties’ marriage she also owned cattle, some horses, several vehicles, and O’Reilly Automotive stock.

At the time the petition for dissolution was filed the parties owned about 40 horses as well as numerous horse trailers and other farm equipment. During the marriage the parties had a joint bank account into which they both made deposits. It appears Wife was generally responsible for “writing the checks out....” Due to the nature of Husband’s job during the marriage, which required a great deal of travel, the parties accrued significant credit card debt from Husband’s expenses while traveling. Both parties in this matter have accused the other spouse of engaging in extramarital affairs and Wife asserts Husband gave her a venereal disease.

At trial, Wife testified that before Husband filed for divorce, he contacted her in February or March of 2005 “to try to get this divorce taken care of ...” and the parties agreed to meet and discuss a possible division of property. Husband told her he “wanted to get with [her] so [they] could get this divorce over, because he wanted it over in 30 days ... and he wanted [her] attorneys to draw up the agreement and he would sign it....” The parties met for four hours during which time Husband told Wife he had taken everything he wanted from the house and Husband agreed to pay maintenance to Wife in the amount of $1,200.00 a month. Wife’s attorneys then drew up a separation agreement (“the Agreement”) which was signed by both parties, notarized, and filed with the trial court in March of 2005. 2 *694 According to Wife, Husband then retrieved from the marital residence the items listed in the Agreement, including a Grizzly four-wheeler; Wife “signed the titles over to him on that stuff;” she and Husband divided the various marital debts and bills based on the Agreement and began making those payments each had agreed to assume; and the parties filed a joint tax return for 2004 based on the Agreement. Wife testified she felt the Agreement was valid and should be enforced by the trial court because she relied upon it by taking the foregoing actions.

At trial, Husband testified the parties’ property should be divided as set out in their consolidated statement of debts and assets; that each party should keep the items in their possession except for a specific list of additional items he was requesting; and that each party should pay the debts on the assets they are awarded. However, Husband also testified the Agreement should not be enforced by the trial court. Husband admitted he met with Wife in early 2005 for a “[cjouple of hours” in an effort to “get the divorce over with.” He stated they reached an Agreement and Wife got the Agreement in written form from her attorneys. He stated at that time he had no knowledge about the amount of the parties’ specific debts. He stated he thought he was making about $100,000.00 per year at that time, but he was not sure because his check stubs went *695 to Wife who then paid all of the bills. He stated he discussed the Agreement with the attorney who was representing him at the time. His attorney advised him the Agreement was “pretty one-sided,” but Husband stated he wanted “to get the divorce over with” quickly. His attorney made a counter-offer to Wife to reduce the award of maintenance from $1,500.00 to $1,200.00. This change was then incorporated into the Agreement. Husband testified “the [Ajgreement is consistent with what [he] and [Wife] did ... ” as far as exchanging property and signing titles over to each other. Husband testified that since that time he has sold seven of the eight horses awarded to him in the Agreement; filed his taxes with Wife per the Agreement; signed over title to certain trailers to Wife per the Agreement; and sold the four-wheeler awarded to him in the Agreement.

Nevertheless, Husband also testified the Agreement should not be enforced because he “really wasn’t thinking too good [when he signed it]. [He] didn’t put a pencil to it. [He] can’t afford to pay all that.” He stated he had just been in a hurry to get divorced from Wife. Furthermore, he related his main problem with the Agreement was the $1,200.00 per month in maintenance to Wife and he did not feel he “should give up the whole house.... ”

At the close of all the evidence, the trial court found the Agreement was not unconscionable and was binding on the parties. Citing In re Marriage of Carter, 862 S.W.2d 461, 468 (Mo.App.1993), the trial court found that while Husband disputed the Agreement at trial, he accepted the “benefits of the [Ajgreement by taking possession of personal property ..., selling and disposing of personal property awarded to him in the written [Ajgreement, transferring property to [Wife], ... filing joint tax returns with [Wife], and taking other actions consistent with ...” the Agreement. As such the trial court determined Husband “by his actions and accepting the benefits of the written [Agreement] ...

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Bluebook (online)
248 S.W.3d 692, 2008 Mo. App. LEXIS 453, 2008 WL 859506, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-marriage-of-bredvick-moctapp-2008.