In Re Marriage of Fisher

258 S.W.3d 852, 2008 Mo. App. LEXIS 744, 2008 WL 2230724
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 2, 2008
Docket28219
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 258 S.W.3d 852 (In Re Marriage of Fisher) 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 Fisher, 258 S.W.3d 852, 2008 Mo. App. LEXIS 744, 2008 WL 2230724 (Mo. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

GARY W. LYNCH, Chief Judge.

Robert M. Fisher (“Husband”) appeals from the judgment of the trial court dissolving his marriage to Melanie Fisher (“Wife”). Husband contends the trial court erred in classifying 9,600 shares of stock in Fisher Trucking & Lumber Co., Inc. (“Fisher Trucking”) as marital property, because the shares were titled in his name only and were a gift from his father. Husband further contends that the trial court erred in valuing a time share and some life insurance policies owned by the parties. We affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

Husband and Wife married in July of 1993. At that time and throughout the parties’ marriage, Husband worked at Fisher Trucking, a company initially started and owned by his father. Shortly before the parties married, Husband’s father transferred to Husband and Husband’s brother and sister individual sixteen-percent ownership interests in the company, each consisting of 4,800 shares of stock. *855 In 1994, the brother and sister transferred their combined thirty-two-percent interest, or 9,600 shares of stock, back to their father because they wanted out of the trucking business. Their father retired in 2002 and at that time assigned that thirty-two-percent interest, or 9,600 shares of stock, to Husband, resulting in Husband owning forty-eight percent of the company, or 14,400 shares, and his father owning fifty-two percent, or 16,600 shares.

Husband and Wife separated in August of 2004. For the entirety of the marriage prior to the separation, Wife was a stay-at-home mother, caring full time for the parties’ two children. She also occasionally worked at Fisher Trucking doing dispatching. Husband handled all of the family’s finances and expenditures and did not discuss any of it with Wife. Following the separation, Wife, who has no formal education beyond high school, began working as a waitress and bartender and eventually obtained full-time employment as a patient relations coordinator for a chiropractor’s office.

Wife filed her petition for dissolution in October of 2004. Each party filed a property statement and an income and expense statement in February of 2006. Husband’s statements contained the following certification:

I certify under penalty of perjury that the above statement is complete, true and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief. I am aware of the criminal penalties for perjury and false affidavit under RSMo. [section] 575.040, [section] 575.050 and [section] 575.060, which provide for imprisonment for up to five years and a fine up to $5,000.

Wife certified in her property statement under oath that “the facts stated herein are true according to [Wife’s] best knowledge, information and belief and that [Wife] executed the same as her own free act and deed.” Wife certified in her income and expense statement under oath that “the foregoing answers and statements are accurate.”

The property statements included real estate, motor vehicles, bank accounts, life insurance policies, various household items, and debts owed by the parties. Husband’s statement designated his 14,400 shares of stock in Fisher Trucking as non-marital property “acquired by gift before marriage.” He did not state a value for the shares of stock. Wife’s statement classified the shares of stock as marital property and valued them at one million dollars with debt and equity unknown. Wife’s statement also included a time share in Las Vegas as marital property, whereas Husband’s statement did not mention the time share at all. Wife valued the time share at $25,000 with $10,000 in debt and $15,000 in equity. On her income and expense statement, Wife listed the time share as an asset with a value of $18,000. Both parties listed life insurance policies as marital property. Wife listed five different policies, with exact values for each unknown. Husband did not state how many policies there were; he merely stated that the death benefit on them was $400,000 with $74,000 in debt and $75,000 in equity.

Six months later, and four days before trial, Husband filed an amended property statement and an amended income and expense statement. These statements contained a certification by Husband identical to that in his originally filed statements. His amended property statement listed the Las Vegas time share as marital property, valued at $18,000 with $18,000 in debt and $0 in equity. He listed the life insurance policies as having a death benefit of $400,000 with $74,000 in debt and $0 in equity.

*856 At trial, Wife testified regarding the Las Vegas time share. She explained that the $18,000 value from her income and expense statement represented the purchase price. Although she believed the time share had increased in value to $25,000 as listed in her property statement, she was willing to accept Husband’s $18,000 value “for the sake of argument.” She did not concede, however, that there was an outstanding debt of $18,000 against the time share, as listed in Husband’s amended property statement.

Husband testified with regard to the insurance policies. He stated that he borrowed $70,000 to $74,000 against the policies in 2002, to put in a furnace, swimming pool, hot tub, pool house, and concrete wall, and that there was currently zero equity in the policies.

Following a two-day trial in August 2006, the trial court entered its judgment of dissolution in November 2006. The court found that Husband’s 9,600 shares of stock in Fisher Trucking, which he acquired after the marriage, were marital property, and awarded Wife a marital interest in those shares. The remaining 4,800 shares, which Husband acquired before the marriage, were classified as non-marital property and set aside to Husband. The court also found that the Las Vegas time share was marital property valued at $25,000 with no debt against it, and awarded it to Husband. The court found that the life insurance policies had a net cash value of $75,000, to be divided between the parties. In total, Husband was awarded marital property in the amount of $531,684.00 and assigned $37,000.00 in marital debt. Wife was awarded marital property in the amount of $262,300.00 and assigned $80,600.00 in marital debt. The court ordered Husband to pay Wife $118,922.00 in order to “equalize the equities.” Consequently, Husband received 53.5 percent of the net marital assets, and Wife received 46.5 percent of the net marital assets.

Standard of Review

“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.” Holman v. Holman, 228 S.W.3d 628, 631 (Mo.App.2007). The evidence and all permissible inferences from the evidence are reviewed in the light most favorable to the trial court’s decision. Elrod v. Elrod, 192 S.W.3d 738, 740 (Mo.App.2006). “On appeal, we defer to the trial court’s credibility determinations and the weight assigned to witness testimony.” In re Marriage of Dolence, 231 S.W.3d 331

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Bluebook (online)
258 S.W.3d 852, 2008 Mo. App. LEXIS 744, 2008 WL 2230724, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-marriage-of-fisher-moctapp-2008.