In Re Marriage of Jarvis

614 N.E.2d 1294, 245 Ill. App. 3d 1007, 185 Ill. Dec. 609, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 796
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 3, 1993
Docket4-92-0713
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 614 N.E.2d 1294 (In Re Marriage of Jarvis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois 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 Jarvis, 614 N.E.2d 1294, 245 Ill. App. 3d 1007, 185 Ill. Dec. 609, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 796 (Ill. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

JUSTICE KNECHT

delivered the opinion of the court:

Joan Jarvis, formerly known as Joan Dempsey, appeals from the judgment of the circuit court of Vermilion County, ordering the distribution of marital assets. (111. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 40, par. 503(d).) Jarvis alleges the trial court erred in (1) awarding the family business to respondent, Charles Dempsey, without ordering offsetting payments to her; (2) awarding her assets and maintenance, rather than a greater share of the assets; and (3) apportioning assets although not provided with sufficient evidence to value the business. We disagree and affirm.

I. Facts

Jarvis and Dempsey were married in 1972. Jarvis filed a petition for dissolution of marriage on May 8, 1991. The marriage was dissolved on June 16, 1992. Hearings on the issue of distribution of assets and maintenance were held between October 1991 and April 1992. At hearing in October 1991, Dempsey testified he was 54 years old. At hearing in November 1991, Jarvis testified she was 56 years old. No children were born to or adopted by the parties; however, Jarvis had three children from a prior marriage.

Dempsey was employed by General Motors (GM), during most of the 20-year marriage and for about the 10 years preceding it. Jarvis had been employed as a bookkeeper at various companies during the marriage. Jarvis testified she was employed at Case Power and Equipment as a bookkeeper when the parties married. She worked at Case for three years, and could not recall her salary. She then worked in the payroll department at Peterson’s for three years, earning about $150 per week. She next worked for Galaxy Homes, doing bookkeeping and showing rental apartments for two years, earning $150 to $200 per week. She thereafter worked for 6V2 years as a bookkeeper for Interstate Lumber, earning more than $200 per week. More recently she tended bar for three years, earning $250 per week. In 1986, Jarvis was hospitalized for six to eight days for a chronic lung disease. After she was released from the hospital she worked as a bookkeeper at Klayer Ag Service, earning $7.50 an hour and working 20 to 60 hours per week. In 1988, Jarvis earned $13,755 working at Klayer.

In 1989, Jarvis and Dempsey purchased a tavern from the estate of Jarvis’ father. The purchase price was $55,000, which included the tavern, everything in the tavern, and the realty on which the tavern was located. Jarvis and Dempsey obtained a bank loan to finance the purchase of the tavern. The parties opened the tavern in April 1989. Dempsey was involved in the day-to-day operations of the tavern, and Jarvis took care of the books. Between April 1989 and September 1991, Jarvis kept the books for the business and assisted in cleaning and closing the tavern at night. In September 1990, Dempsey retired from his job at General Motors. Dempsey testified he retired pursuant to an agreement with Jarvis that he would do so in order to run the tavern. Dempsey took a real estate course and obtained his realtor’s license in December 1990 or January 1991. In May 1991, Jarvis filed a petition for dissolution.

Beginning in September 1991, Jarvis worked in the tavern on Wednesday and Thursday nights and took care of the ordering. When asked if, after the opening of the tavern, she had been offered a bookkeeping job by Clint Hawkins and Ron Osterbur at WACO, Jarvis initially responded in the negative, but then admitted she had been offered such a position, but stated the offer was made in a kidding manner because Hawkins and Osterbur knew she could not go back to work.

At the time of the dissolution proceedings, the parties still owed over $45,000 on the tavern loan. Dempsey had sold only one home, earning $1,152. The testimony was unclear regarding the gross income received by the parties from the tavern, partially due to their practice of paying personal expenses out of the tavern account and “holding out.” The parties “held out” money by placing a portion of the cash received in the operation of the tavern in a box, and did not report the cash in the box as income. In rendering its decision, the trial court noted Jarvis’ “bookkeeping practices appear suspect at best, and her memory, as well as her production of documents in support of her claims were selective from the beginning of the case to the end.”

The parties had elected for the tavern to be treated as a subchapter S corporation, with each party being a 50% shareholder. Thus, each party reports half the tavern’s net income as income, and each party is responsible for the taxes on his or her own share of the income received from the tavern. In 1989 the parties reported a $13,477 net loss from the tavern. In 1990 the parties initially reported a $3,720 net loss from the tavern; however, during the pendency of the dissolution proceedings Jarvis arranged for an amended return to be filed reflecting gross income of $18,740 from the tavern. In 1991, the parties reported receipt of gross income of $38,650 from the tavern.

Jarvis submitted a financial affidavit setting forth her monthly expenses as $1,856.55, including $196.20 for the mortgage payment on the marital residence, and $510.03 for her car payment.

On June 16, 1992, the court filed its supplemental order of dissolution, resolving the issues of distribution of assets and maintenance. In the judgment order, as modified by the court’s ruling on Jarvis’ post-trial motion, the court awarded Jarvis the marital residence ($53,500); the furniture, furnishings and appliances in her possession; a 1987 Cadillac (worth $8,400), six cemetery graves ($905 value), and her individual retirement account (IRA) ($9,578); and half of the pretax and penalty value of Dempsey’s 401(K) plan ($12,101.81). The court further (1) ordered Dempsey to pay Jarvis $12,101.81 — half the pretax and penalty value of his 401(K) plan — within 41 days of the ruling on the post-trial motion (Jarvis was not required to pay the 10% penalty or income taxes which will be due if Dempsey withdraws money from the 401(K) to pay Jarvis $12,101.81); and (2) awarded her one-third of Dempsey’s CM pension, subject to proportionate change when Dempsey’s pension is redetermined at age 62 and subject to proportionate increase for any increase in benefit under the plan. (In reaching the one-third amount, the trial court determined the pension had been earned over 30 years, 20 of which the parties were married. The court found two-thirds of the pension was the marital portion of the pension. The court awarded Jarvis 50% of the marital portion (two-thirds) of the pension, which amounts to one-third of the total pension benefits.) The court also (3) ordered Dempsey to execute a qualified domestic relations order providing for payment of a portion of his GM pension to Jarvis and execute documents providing Jarvis would retain her right of survivorship under the plan; (4) awarded Jarvis permanent maintenance of $500 per month; and (5) ordered Dempsey to pay Jarvis additional maintenance in the form of her insurance premiums and health coverage. Jarvis was ordered to pay the balance of the loan for her Cadillac ($4,590.31).

The court awarded Dempsey the tavern, fixtures and real estate (worth $55,000), and ordered him to pay the mortgage on that real estate ($45,895) and all business debts.

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Related

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Appellate Court of Illinois, 1997
In Re Marriage of Minear
679 N.E.2d 856 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1997)
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Dowell v. Bitner
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Bluebook (online)
614 N.E.2d 1294, 245 Ill. App. 3d 1007, 185 Ill. Dec. 609, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 796, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-marriage-of-jarvis-illappct-1993.