Kelley v. Kelley

959 So. 2d 109, 2006 WL 2708633
Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama·Decided September 22, 2006·No. 2040581, 2040586·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

959 So.2d 109 (2006)

Charles Scott KELLEY
v.
Sabrina Renee Patton KELLEY
Sabrina Renee Patton Kelley
v.
Charles Scott Kelley
Kelley Foods of Alabama, Inc., Charles E. Kelley, Dwight W. Kelley, Jerry W. Kelley, and Edwin B. Kelley, attempted intervenors
v.
In re Marriage of Charles Scott Kelley and Sabrina Renee Patton Kelley.

2040581, 2040586.

Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama.

September 22, 2006.
Rehearing Denied December 1, 2006.

M. Chad Tindol of Marsh, Cotter & Tindol, LLP, Enterprise, for appellants Kelley Foods and other Kelley Shareholders.

*110 Sharon G. Yates, Montgomery; Terry L. Butts, Elba; and L. Merrill Shirley, Elba, for Charles Scott Kelley.

John A. Henig, Jr., and J. David Martin of Copeland, Franco, Screws & Gill, P.A., Montgomery; and Lee A. McIver, Montgomery, for appellee/cross-appellant Sabrina Renee Patton Kelley.

PER CURIAM.

In case number 2040581, Charles Scott Kelley ("the husband") appeals a divorce judgment insofar as it required him either to transfer 300 shares of stock in Kelley Foods of Alabama, Inc. ("Kelley Foods"), to Sabrina Renee Patton Kelley ("the wife") or to pay $350,000 to the wife within 60 days. Also in case number 2040581, the wife cross-appeals the divorce judgment insofar as it awarded the husband his entire retirement account instead of awarding her one-half of the account. We reverse the divorce judgment insofar as it divided the parties' marital property and made an award of periodic alimony, and we remand the case to the trial court for the trial court to address the issues of the division of the parties' marital property and the award of periodic alimony in light of this opinion.

In case number 2040586, Charles E. Kelley, Dwight W. Kelley, Jerry W. Kelley, and Edwin B. Kelley (collectively "the other shareholders") and Kelley Foods appeal the denial of their motion for leave to intervene in the husband's and the wife's divorce action. We affirm the denial of that motion.

On June 16, 2003, the husband sued the wife for a divorce on the grounds of incompatibility and irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. The wife answered the husband's complaint and counterclaimed for a divorce on the ground that the husband had allegedly engaged in domestic violence.

The husband owned 789 shares of stock in Kelley Foods, a closely held corporation. The husband's 789 shares represented approximately 15% of the outstanding shares of Kelley Foods. The other shareholders owned all of the other outstanding shares of Kelley Foods. The husband used marital assets to buy the 789 shares, and he conceded that the 789 shares were marital assets.

In 2001, the husband, the wife, the other shareholders, and the spouses of the other shareholders signed a buy-sell agreement that governed the transfer of shares of stock in Kelley Foods. In pertinent part, the buy-sell agreement stated:

"RECITALS:
". . . .
"C. Kelley Foods and [the husband and the other shareholders] wish to restrict ownership of the [stock in Kelley Foods] to [the husband and the other shareholders] and to persons with whom [the husband and the other shareholders] may comfortably and easily deal; and
"D. [The husband and the other shareholders] believe that they shall be able to deal easily and comfortably with each other and that it is in their best interests and in Kelley Foods' best interests that all corporate activities be controlled by persons who deal comfortably with each other; and
"E. [The husband, the other shareholders,] and Kelley Foods, to accomplish these objectives, wish to arrange for certain restrictions on the Transfer (defined below) of the [husband's and the other shareholders'] shares of the Stock to persons other than [the husband and the other shareholders].
*111 "AGREEMENTS:
SECTION 1
Stock Transfers
". . . .
"1.4 Involuntary Lifetime Transfers. Purchase Options. Any Shareholder who has any information that would reasonably lead him, her, or it to expect that an Involuntary Lifetime Transfer (defined below) is foreseeable must promptly send a notice to Kelley Foods and to the other Shareholders and be deemed to have offered to sell to Kelley Foods and to the other Shareholders his, her, or its shares of the Stock otherwise to be Transferred, at the Agreement Price and on the Agreement Terms. Such notice shall include a statement of the type of proposed Transfer, the name, address (both home and office), and business or occupation of the person to whom such shares of the Stock would be Transferred, and any other facts that are or would reasonably be deemed material to the proposed Transfer.
"1.4.1. Kelley Foods shall have sixty (60) days from such notice in which to elect to buy all, or any, of the Offered Stock.
"1.4.2. If Kelley Foods shall not elect to buy all of the Offered Stock within the option period, the other Shareholders shall have sixty (60) days from the expiration of the option period in which to elect to buy. The other Shareholders may elect to buy all or any of such shares of the Offered Stock in proportion to their respective ownership of the Stock (excluding the Offered Stock) or in such other proportion as they shall agree upon.
"1.4.3. If Kelley Foods and the other Shareholders do not, in the aggregate, agree to buy all of the Offered Stock within the option period, such Involuntary Lifetime Transfer may be completed with respect to the unpurchased shares. . . .
". . . .
"SECTION 2
Agreement Price
"The Agreement Price shall be the value of the Offered Stock as determined by formula provided in Section 2.1 on the last day of the fiscal year most recently ended prior to the date of any deemed offer. In the case of a transfer constituting a gift, the Agreement Price shall be the price set forth in 2.1.
". . . .
"SECTION 9
Definitions
". . . .
"`Agreement Price.' The `Agreement Price' is the price at which, pursuant to the terms of this Agreement, a Shareholder must offer to sell all or any of his or her shares of the Stock.
"9.17. `Transfer,' Etc. A `Transfer' is any sale, pledge, [e]ncumbrance, gift, bequest, or other transfer of any shares of the Stock, whether or not for value and whether or not made to another party to this Agreement.
"9.17.1 An `Involuntary Lifetime Transfer' is any Transfer made on account of a court order or otherwise by operation of law, including any Transfer incident to any divorce or marital property settlement or any Transfer pursuant to applicable community *112 property, quasi-community property or similar state law."

(Emphasis added.)

Following a trial at which it heard evidence ore tenus, the trial court entered a divorce judgment on January 14, 2005. The divorce judgment did not state any express fact findings.

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Kelley v. Kelley, 959 So. 2d 109, 2006 WL 2708633 (Ala. Ct. App. 2006).

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