In Re the Marriage of Schulte

546 S.W.2d 41, 1977 Mo. App. LEXIS 1956
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 11, 1977
Docket9807
StatusPublished
Cited by60 cases

This text of 546 S.W.2d 41 (In Re the Marriage of Schulte) 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 the Marriage of Schulte, 546 S.W.2d 41, 1977 Mo. App. LEXIS 1956 (Mo. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

HOGAN, Judge.

This is an action for dissolution of a marriage under the Dissolution of Marriage or Divorce Reform Act, now codified as §§ 452.250-452.415, RSMo Supp.1975. The trial court found the marriage irretrievably broken and ordered it dissolved. Further, the court awarded petitioner Sara Schulte 12,000 shares of stock in Talbot-General Wire Products, Inc., as her share of the marital property and granted her an indefinite maintenance order in the amount of $375 per month. Sara appeals, contending 1) that § 452.330 violates Mo.Const. Art. I, § 13, because it retrospectively deprives her of vested property rights, and 2) that the disposition of marital property and the amount of maintenance allowed are unconscionable, if authorized by law. No issue is tendered concerning the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage nor the custody of the parties’ three children.

By way of brief background sketch, it appears that Sara and J.C., as the parties are referred to in the record, were married August 26,1950, J.C. was, and is, a practicing dentist. Before their marriage, Sara worked as a dental assistant in J.C.’s office. Sara had been married before she married J.C., and J.C. adopted her son, James.

After the marriage, Sara continued working in J.C.’s dental office. Sara was the only employee. Her testimony was that she worked at the office and at home on the bookkeeping, and that she and her husband lived very frugally, because J.C. “didn’t believe in debts”. From time to time, Sara was warned “don’t spend a dime this week other than what you have to” because the two “wanted to pay on [their] property, stocks and bonds.” At the time of their marriage, Sara owned no property, and J.C. owned only a lot at 1720 Annie Baxter Street in Joplin. The two had a house built on that lot during the first years of their marriage, and it stands admitted that both J.C. and Sara participated in the construction of the house. Sara’s testimony was that during the early years of her marriage, “it was rough for a while, all I got was $20.00 a week [J.C.] gave me for my clothes and grocery money.”

Without going into detail, it is apparent from the record that J.C. and Sara prospered, by community standards. They became the parents of two children, built a new home, joined a country club and traveled. They acquired a considerable amount of property, of which we shall speak further. It stands admitted, as we understand the record, that all the property in issue was accumulated before the parties separated. J.C. belittled Sara’s assertions that she had lived frugally and denied that Sara had been required to work in the office after the children were born, but he admitted that for 18 years after the two were married, he “couldn’t have been more pleased” with Sara as a wife and mother.

The cause of the parties’ separation is, of course, disputed. J.C.’s testimony was that Sara started staying out late after her regular Tuesday golf date — “she might be late or sometimes didn’t show up at all.” Sometimes Sara stayed out all night. J.C. asked Sara where she had been, but received only “[v]ague answers”. Several times he located her at Glady’s Heidelberg Inn, a Joplin bar, at first alone, but later with others. “It eventually became known,” according to J.C., that Sara was “running around” with a man named Hughes. Because he was “bird dog enough to want to know”, J.C. followed Sara; he had seen her car parked outside Hughes’ apartment, sometimes overnight. J.C.’s version of the facts was that he had many times asked Sara to return, but his entreaties had fallen on deaf ears.

Sara’s testimony was that she had left home because, “We just couldn’t settle our *44 differences.” She stated quite unequivocally that J.C. “liked to abuse [her] physically” and she eventually became afraid of him. Sara admitted staying out overnight “once or twice”. Mr, Hughes, called as a witness, admitted knowing both parties, said he had “occasionally” kept company with Sara, but denied any impropriety. J.C. admitted striking Sara, but intimated that he had done so only because her conduct had driven him to distraction. There is much evidence other than that which we have recited, but our statement illustrates the tenor of the cause.

Broadly stated, the appellant’s first point is that to the extent it permits an unequal distribution of marital property, § 452.330 violates Mo.Const. Art. I, § 13, 1 because it operates to allow a court to divest a spouse of his vested interest in entirety property. Arguing that her point requires only “application” of established constitutional principles, as distinguished from “construction” of Mo.Const. Art. I, § 13, the appellant urges application of that section to void the distribution of marital property. The respondent joins in this clamor, maintaining that Rule 83.06, V.A. M.R., 2 is inadequate and we should transfer the case to our Supreme Court pursuánt to Rule 83.02, V.A.M.R., because of the general interest and importance of the case. There is, in point of fact, no constitutional question present on this appeal, nor would there be any such question before our Supreme Court if we exercised our authority to transfer the appeal there pursuant to Rule 83.02, V.A.M.R.

The transcript shows that this action was commenced in the Circuit Court of Jasper County on July 30, 1969, when Sara filed a petition for divorce together with a motion for suit money, attorneys’ fees and alimony pendente lite. Issue was joined by the filing of an answer and crossbill on September 12, 1969. At some time not clearly indicated the trial court awarded Sara the sum of $300 per month as temporary alimony. Sara’s action, as she euphemistically puts it, “remained dormant” until February 22, 1974. Sara then asked leave to file an amended petition on the ground that the Divorce Reform Act had become the law of Missouri and amendment of the petition was therefore necessary. The amended petition concludes with a prayer that the trial court dissolve the marriage and “divide the marital property in such proportions as the Court deems just after considering all relevant factors.” We find no motion or objection, oral or written, directed to the constitutionality of the Divorce Reform Act at any place in the record. Indeed, the appellant’s jurisdictional statement alleges the appeal to be within the general jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals. Having embraced the act as a basis for her recovery, the appellant may not now disclaim it as an infringement of her constitutional rights. Nixon v. Nixon, 525 S.W.2d 835, 837-838[1] (Mo.App.1975).

As for the respondent’s contention that the appeal should be transferred because of the general interest and importance of the constitutional issue, we remind counsel that a constitutional issue never raised on trial cannot be considered on appeal. Whatever may have been the appropriate stage to raise a constitutional issue in this bench-tried case, it cannot be raised for the first time on appeal as an inherent matter. Consideration of a constitutional issue raised for the first time on appeal would exceed the powers of this court or our Supreme Court. Christiansen v. Fulton State Hospital, 536 S.W.2d 159, 160[3] (Mo. banc 1976); City of St. Louis v. Butler Co., 358 Mo.

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Bluebook (online)
546 S.W.2d 41, 1977 Mo. App. LEXIS 1956, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-marriage-of-schulte-moctapp-1977.