Jane Marie Myers v. Brian David Myers

Court of Appeals of Virginia·Decided August 23, 2022·No. 0748212·Unpublished

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA UNPUBLISHED

Present: Judges Humphreys, Causey and Senior Judge Clements Argued at Richmond, Virginia

JANE MARIE MYERS

MEMORANDUM OPINION* BY

v. Record No. 0748-21-2 JUDGE JEAN HARRISON CLEMENTS AUGUST 23, 2022

BRIAN DAVID MYERS

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF CAROLINE COUNTY Sarah L. Deneke, Judge

Steven Shareff for appellant.

Brandy M. Poss (Barnes & Diehl, P.C., on brief), for appellee.

The circuit court awarded Brian David Myers (husband) a divorce from Jane Marie Myers (wife). The final decree resolved all issues of the grounds for divorce, equitable distribution, spousal support, and attorney fees. On appeal, wife challenges the circuit court’s rulings regarding equitable distribution, spousal support, and attorney fees. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the judgment of the circuit court.

BACKGROUND

“When reviewing a trial court’s decision on appeal, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the prevailing party, granting it the benefit of any reasonable inferences.” Starr v.

Starr, 70 Va. App. 486, 488 (2019) (quoting Congdon v. Congdon, 40 Va. App. 255, 258 (2003)).

Husband and wife married on July 12, 1991. The parties had one child born in 2001, who is now emancipated. The parties separated on October 1, 2004. Wife filed a complaint for divorce in

*

Pursuant to Code § 17.1-413, this opinion is not designated for publication.

Loudoun County, and the Loudoun County Circuit Court held a pendente lite hearing on November 5, 2004. The Loudoun County Circuit Court ordered temporary spousal support in the amount of $4,000 per month.1 On March 26, 2005, the parties sent a letter to the mortgage company and stated that the parties agreed that the marital residence would “be deeded to [wife] alone” and husband relinquished all rights to the marital residence. Wife filed an “Emergency Motion to Affirm, Ratify and Incorporate by Reference Marital Agreement Between Parties” and asked that the letter be deemed a “Marital Agreement.” The Loudoun County Circuit Court found that the letter was a marital agreement and incorporated the agreement into an order. The Loudoun County Circuit Court further ordered that the proceeds from the sale of the marital residence, amounting to $268,097.98, be released to wife.2 Wife endorsed the order as “Seen & agreed,” while husband endorsed the order as “Seen & objected to” without further explanation.

The Loudoun County Circuit Court struck the matter from the docket for inactivity in 2009.

Nevertheless, husband continued to provide wife $4,000 in spousal support on a monthly basis, until January 2016, when their child turned eighteen years old. Husband then paid wife $1,500 a month for several months and increased the payments to $2,500 a month until November 2019.

In 2019, wife filed a petition for spousal support in the Caroline County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court (“JDR court”).3 After a contested hearing, the JDR court dismissed with prejudice wife’s petition; wife appealed the JDR court’s order. Based on the JDR court’s ruling, husband ceased making support payments to wife.

1 Husband was ordered to pay $993.43 per month in pendente lite child support.

2 The Loudoun County Circuit Court reserved the right to consider the distribution of the marital property at the final equitable distribution hearing.

3 Husband lived in Caroline County, Virginia; wife lived in North Carolina.

In November 2019, husband filed the instant complaint for divorce in the Caroline County Circuit Court (“circuit court”), and in 2020, filed an amended complaint for divorce. Husband asked that wife “be denied spousal support, alimony and maintenance both pendente lite and permanently” and that “the property rights and equitable distribution of the property of the parties hereto be settled and determined.” Husband also filed a motion to consolidate the divorce with wife’s appeal of the JDR court’s dismissal of her petition for spousal support. The circuit court granted husband’s motion to consolidate.

Wife filed an answer and counterclaim, in which she asked the circuit court to award her spousal support, equitably distribute all marital and hybrid property, and enforce the 2005 “Marital Agreement.”4 Wife alleged that at the time of the separation, the net equity in the former marital residence was $190,000 and that she was entitled to any increase in value to the property following the date of separation. Wife also asserted that the parties agreed that husband’s waiver of his interest in the former marital residence would offset wife’s interest in husband’s retirement accounts and that “the remaining amounts in [husband’s] retirement, 401K, pension, stock, annuity and profit sharing accounts would be equitably distributed between the parties as determined by the [c]ourt.” In his answer, husband denied, in pertinent part, that the parties entered into a “Marital Agreement.”

In January 2021, husband filed a motion for alternate valuation dates for the former marital residence and his retirement accounts. Husband asked that the former marital residence be valued at $268,098, the amount wife received after she sold the residence in August 2005.5 Husband acknowledged that he had accrued certain retirement benefits during the parties’ marriage and after their separation. He asked the circuit court to value the retirement accounts as they existed at the

4 Wife subsequently filed a motion to incorporate the “Marital Agreement.”

5 Husband did not receive any proceeds from the sale of the former marital residence. Wife had used the proceeds from the August 2005 sale to purchase another home and later rolled that into two additional properties.

time of the parties’ separation. At the time of the parties’ separation, husband owned four retirement accounts valued at approximately $210,000. Specifically, those four accounts consisted of a Morgan Stanley IRA valued at $35,586, a Sprint retirement account valued at $105,177, a Fidelity brokerage account valued at $58,307, and a Charles Schwab account valued at $11,918.65. After the parties’ separation, husband continued to contribute to these accounts and rolled them over to other accounts, including a Morgan Stanley IRA, Morgan Stanley Investment account, Morgan Stanley Alt. Investment account, ServiceNow 401(K), Fidelity Tenable Stock Options, Tenable 401(K), Savos Investment, Multiple Strategy, LPL Financial/Cortale, Verizon Savings Plan 401(K) account number xxx76, and Verizon Savings Plan 401(K) account number xxx83. Husband asked that the circuit court assign an alternate valuation date of October 2004 to these retirement accounts, resulting in a $0 value, because they did not exist at the time of the parties’ separation.6 Wife argued against the motion for an alternate valuation date. Wife claimed that the parties had discussed, but they “never had a formal agreement or anything,” that she would receive the former marital residence and husband would receive his retirement. Wife sold the former marital residence for $268,098 in August 2005. Wife testified that the parties had agreed that in 2004, the net equity in the residence was valued at $190,000, which she claimed they would divide evenly at the time of the divorce. Wife acknowledged that she kept all the sale proceeds. Wife claimed that the retirement accounts were commingled but asked the court to award her twenty-five percent of husband’s retirement as of the date of the hearing because she believed that “would be a fair and equitable remedy.” Husband testified that the “settlement agreement” referred to in the 2005 letter to the mortgage company referred to the parties’ agreement that he would relinquish his

6 The accounts include a Sprint pension plan and three Morgan Stanley accounts at issue in this appeal, that had an estimated value of $1.2 million.

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