Kiernan v. Ward

2022 Ohio 1303
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided April 20, 2022·No. 29994·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

STATE OF OHIO ) IN THE COURT OF APPEALS )ss: NINTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COUNTY OF SUMMIT )

MELISSA KIERNAN C.A. No. 29994 Appellee

v. APPEAL FROM JUDGMENT ENTERED IN THE

JONATHAN WARD COURT OF COMMON PLEAS COUNTY OF SUMMIT, OHIO

Appellant CASE No. DR-2016-09-2667

DECISION AND JOURNAL ENTRY Dated: April 20, 2022

CALLAHAN, Judge.

{¶1} Defendant-Appellant, Jonathan Ward (“Husband”), appeals from the judgment of the Summit County Court of Common Pleas, Domestic Relations Division. This Court affirms.

I.

{¶2} Husband and Plaintiff-Appellee, Melissa Ward (“Wife”), married in 1998 and had four children during their marriage. The couple initially lived in Ohio but moved to Virginia in 2000 after the birth of their first child. The following year, they started a landscaping business that became their primary source of income. While Husband handled the day-to-day operations, Wife performed the record and bookkeeping for the business and simultaneously cared for the children. The income the parties received from the business, and occasionally from other sources, allowed them to enjoy a very comfortable standard of living.

{¶3} In 2011, the parties purchased a home in Cuyahoga Falls with the understanding that they would relocate there as a family once they remodeled it. They used cash to pay outright

for the home and to have significant renovations performed. By 2013, however, Husband was still unwilling to relocate. Wife decided to leave Virginia with the children and moved to the Cuyahoga Falls home. Though she and the children occasionally returned to Virginia to visit Husband, they continued to reside in Cuyahoga Falls from that point forward. Wife used credit cards to pay for any necessities she or the children required, and Husband routinely paid those bills.

{¶4} In 2016, Wife filed a complaint for divorce, and Husband filed a counterclaim for the same. The case proceeded to trial, at the conclusion of which the trial court journalized a divorce decree. Husband attempted to appeal the decree, but this Court dismissed the appeal for lack of a final, appealable order. See Ward v. Kiernan, 9th Dist. Summit No. 29186, 2019-Ohio- 2306. It was our conclusion that the decree did not dispose of all the property at issue. Id. at ¶ 9. Further, this Court expressed concern that the trial court had not valued certain items of property, had not classified all the property as marital or separate, and had not set forth its findings of fact where appropriate. Id. at ¶ 10.

{¶5} Following the dismissal of Husband’s appeal, the trial court held two separate hearings to address issues of property division and valuation. The parties presented additional evidence at the hearings, and the trial court ultimately issued two separate judgment entries. The first entry addressed the concerns raised by this Court on appeal and contained detailed findings, which the trial court incorporated into its second entry. The second entry was an amended divorce decree.

{¶6} Husband now appeals from both entries and raises three assignments of error for this Court’s review.

II.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1

THE TRIAL COURT ERRED AS A MATTER OF LAW IN ITS PROPERTY DIVISION BY ASSIGNING DIFFERENT VALUATION DATES TO DIFFERENT ASSETS OF THE PARTIES.

{¶7} In his first assignment of error, Husband argues that the trial court erred in its valuation of a jet boat, two jet skis, a minibike, three four-wheelers, and twelve go-carts. He argues that the court relied on inflated purchase prices to value those items rather than valuing them as of the date of the first remand hearing. Upon review, this Court rejects Husband’s argument.

{¶8} During a divorce proceeding, a trial court must classify property as marital or separate and value the property with reference to the duration of the marriage. Hunt v. Hunt, 9th Dist. Lorain No. 21CA011720, 2022-Ohio-412, ¶ 6. “[T]he court must choose a specific date for purposes of valuation and use it consistently * * *.” Elliot-Thomas v. Lewis, 9th Dist. Summit No. 29164, 2019-Ohio-3870, ¶ 7. It is expected that the court will “place a value on the major assets owned by the parties.” Zona v. Zona, 9th Dist. Medina No. 05CA0007-M, 2005-Ohio-5194, ¶ 5. Nevertheless, the overarching goal is to create an equitable distribution. Hunt at ¶ 8. A trial court “cannot be expected to value every piece of furniture, lawn equipment, and other personal property accumulated during a marriage[,]” and “[i]t is not appropriate to consider the disposition of only a few items taken out of context of [an] entire award.” Kohler v. Kohler, 9th Dist. Lorain No. 96CA006313, 1996 WL 455850, *3 (Aug. 14, 1996). A trial court has discretion in determining how to value a marital asset and in fashioning an equitable division of marital property. Fetzer v. Fetzer, 9th Dist. Wayne No. 12CA0036, 2014-Ohio-747, ¶ 34; Stepp v. Stepp, 9th Dist. Medina No. 03CA0052-M, 2004-Ohio-1617, ¶ 10. Consequently, this Court will not overturn those discretionary determinations absent an abuse of discretion. Hunt at ¶ 8; Fetzer at ¶ 34.

{¶9} The trial court found that the duration of the parties’ marriage was from June 26, 1998, until December 8, 2019.1 It ultimately valued their “Jet Boat/Ski & related equipment” at $40,000 and their “Go-Carts, Mini-bikes[,] Four-wheelers, [and] dirt bikes” at $15,000. Regarding the boat, jet skis, and related equipment, the court found that neither party had included those items on their 2019 affidavits of property. The court also found that Husband had not included the items on his 2016 affidavit of property, and Wife had included the items on her 2016 affidavit of property but had not valued them. The court noted that, at trial, Wife estimated the items were worth at least $40,000 while Husband claimed to have purchased them for about a third of that amount. The court further noted that Husband testified to having already sold the items at auction, in violation of the court’s restraining order, for less than $2,000.

{¶10} Regarding the go-carts, mini-bikes, four-wheelers, and dirt bikes, the trial court found that neither party had included those items on their 2016 or 2019 affidavits of property. The court noted that, at trial, Wife had valued the items at $15,000. Meanwhile, at the remand hearing, Husband claimed the parties had never owned any dirt bikes and testified that Wife had overvalued the remaining items in light of their current condition. Husband estimated that, at best, the remaining items were worth about $5,700.

{¶11} In valuing the parties’ property, the trial court noted that neither party had provided it with any third-party appraisals for their business, their real property, their vehicles, or their personal property. The parties had a significant amount of property to be divided including their landscaping business, landscaping equipment kept in Virginia, landscaping equipment kept in

1 The trial court selected December 8, 2019, as the end date for the parties’ marriage because it found that December 8th was the date of the first hearing it conducted upon remand from this Court. The actual date of the first remand hearing was December 11, 2019. Neither party has challenged the discrepancy, however, so this Court will rely on the December 8th date in conducting its review.

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