In Re Marriage of Ryman

527 N.E.2d 18, 172 Ill. App. 3d 599, 122 Ill. Dec. 646, 1988 Ill. App. LEXIS 971
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 5, 1988
Docket2-87-0741
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 527 N.E.2d 18 (In Re Marriage of Ryman) 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 Ryman, 527 N.E.2d 18, 172 Ill. App. 3d 599, 122 Ill. Dec. 646, 1988 Ill. App. LEXIS 971 (Ill. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE LINDBERG

delivered the opinion of the court:

On January 21, 1987, a judgment was entered as to Joyce A. Ry-man (the Wife) and Lowell Edward Ryman (the Husband) in the circuit court of Kane County, dissolving their marriage of 25 years. Following a hearing on the Wife’s post-trial motion, which was denied in part and granted in part, the trial court on June 22, 1987, adopted additional findings and amended the judgment of dissolution in accordance with its rulings on the Wife’s post-trial motion. The enforcement of the trial court’s judgment was stayed pending appeal. The Wife appeals from the judgment of dissolution entered January 21, 1987, as modified on June 22,1987.

On appeal, the Wife claims that the trial court erred in the following ways: (1) in failing to reimburse the marital estate for its contributions to the nonmarital life insurance policies of the Husband; (2) in improperly charging the expenditure of marital assets for a car and a vacation to the Wife and failing to distribute the marital assets in just proportions pursuant to section 503 of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (the Act) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 40, par. 503); (3) in failing to properly consider the relevant factors under section 504 of the Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 40, par. 504) and thereby awarding insufficient maintenance; (4) in failing to award the Wife a portion or all of her attorney fees; and (5) that the trial court was prejudiced against the Wife.

At the time the judgment of dissolution was entered, the Wife was 43 years old, and the Husband was 45 years old. The parties in the course of their marriage had two children; Rene, 21, was employed and living at home, and Jeffrey, 17, was a senior in high school and living at home.

The record shows that the Husband has been employed as a technician at WGN Studios for approximately 20 years. The Husband’s gross wages for the year 1984 and 1985 were $53,500 and $54,500 respectively. It was established at trial that the Husband was getting a retroactive pay increase for 1986 but the amount of the raise had not yet been determined. The Wife has a high school education and made a homemaker’s contribution to the marriage. The Husband testified that he did not want his Wife to work unless she wanted to. The Wife worked part time in 1978 as a receptionist in a real estate office. The Wife worked part time as a receptionist in a doctor’s office during 1984 and 1985 at approximately $7 per hour. The Wife was employed in June 1986 full time at $6 per hour for AT&T doing clerical work as a temporary replacement for women on pregnancy leave. This job was to terminate at the end of December 1986. The tax returns for 1984 and 1985 show the Wife earned gross wages in the amount of $1,900 and $5,400, respectively. The Wife testified to having problems with her back. However, the evidence deposition of the Wife’s doctor indicates no disability and states she is capable of full employment.

The Husband filed an affidavit of monthly expenses in the approximate amount of $1,700. The Wife had filed an affidavit of monthly expenses in March 1986 in seeking temporary support; however, the trial court refused to consider this affidavit at trial because it was based on a time when the Husband was present in the household. However, this did not prevent the trial court from awarding the Wife temporary support and maintenance of $350 per week plus utilities based on that same affidavit when the Husband left the marital home in March 1986.

The Husband had nonmarital property consisting of the three life insurance policies with a total cash surrender value of $5,690 and a small inheritance of $1,000. The Wife had nonmarital property represented by an inheritance in the amount of $38,640 at the time of trial. Prior to trial, the Wife expended $12,683 of her inheritance represented by approximately $4,000 she spent on doctor and attorney fees and approximately $8,000 which she gave to the daughter Rene. The marital property in existence at trial and available for distribution consisted of the following: (1) life insurance policy valued at $922; (2) the Husband’s IRA valued at $2,000; (3) the Husband’s employment pension valued at $3,857; (4) the Tribune employees’ credit union account (savings account) valued at $4,248; (5) shares of stock valued at $480; (6) a savings account at Home Federal Savings in the amount of $1,622; (7) and two silver bars with a total value of $140. Additionally, the trial court specifically valued a washing machine, television set and tractor engine block purchased by the Husband with marital funds at $700, $700 and $500, respectively. Ine only other significant marital asset was the marital residence valued at $127,000. The outstanding mortgage was $16,750. The trial court found the selling costs to be $12,700. Subtracting the outstanding mortgage and selling costs, the marital residence had a cash value of $97,550 at the time of judgment. The trial court awarded both spouses their separate property and their respective vehicles. The trial court awarded the Wife one-half the marital savings ($2,935) and the two silver bars ($140) for a total of $3,075. The Husband received the rest of the marital property, except for the marital residence, with a total value of $12,094. The residence was to be sold when Jeffrey finished high school, with the Wife to receive one-half the proceeds plus $10,000 from the Husband’s half of the proceeds. At the time of judgment this would give the Wife a $58,775 interest in the proceeds upon sale and the Husband a $38,775 interest in the proceeds of the sale. (For a list of the property and its distribution, see Appendix.) The court ordered the Wife to pay the 1985 real estate taxes and all future real estate taxes as they became due. The custody of the minor son Jeffrey was given to the Wife. The trial court order provided for child support equal to 20% of the Husband’s net pay until the minor finished high school, which was to be after the minor’s 18th birthday. The court reserved its jurisdiction to determine the issue of funding Jeffrey’s college education. The court ordered the Husband to pay $300 per month maintenance to the Wife for the first year and $150 per month for the second year. The court made the maintenance award nonmodifiable. Each party was to pay his or her own attorney fees.

I. DISTRIBUTION OF MARITAL PROPERTY

On appeal, the Wife contends that the trial court’s distribution of the marital property pursuant to section 503 of the Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 40, par. 503) was based on erroneous findings; that the trial court failed to properly consider the factors listed under section 503 of the Act, and that the resulting distribution of the marital property was an abuse of discretion. In distributing the parties’ property trader section 503, the trial court must first make certain findings in order to classify each item of property as either “marital” or “non-marital.” (In re Marriage of Thornton (1980), 89 Ill. App. 3d 1078, 412 N.E.2d 1336.) Second the trial court must determine whether either party has made a showing by clear and convincing evidence that one estate of property has contributed to another, thus entitling the contributing estate to reimbursement under section 503(cX2) of the Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 40, par. 503(cX2)).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
527 N.E.2d 18, 172 Ill. App. 3d 599, 122 Ill. Dec. 646, 1988 Ill. App. LEXIS 971, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-marriage-of-ryman-illappct-1988.