KIM FLORA, Petitioner-Respondent v. BRADLEY L. FLORA

426 S.W.3d 730, 2014 WL 1379191, 2014 Mo. App. LEXIS 388
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 8, 2014
DocketSD32498
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 426 S.W.3d 730 (KIM FLORA, Petitioner-Respondent v. BRADLEY L. FLORA) 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
KIM FLORA, Petitioner-Respondent v. BRADLEY L. FLORA, 426 S.W.3d 730, 2014 WL 1379191, 2014 Mo. App. LEXIS 388 (Mo. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

DON E. BURRELL, J.

Bradley L. Flora (“Husband”) appeals the division of marital property in the December 2012 judgment that dissolved his marriage to Kim Flora (“Wife”). Husband’s sole point on appeal contends the trial court abused its discretion in awarding him “only 13% [ 1 ] of the net marital estate to Wife’s 87%” because that award was against the weight of the evidence. Finding no merit in the claim, we affirm.

Facts and Procedural Background 2

Husband and Wife began a relationship in California in 1991, and they started *733 living together in 1992. While the parties were still unmarried and living in California, they had “some interest in coming to Missouri!,]” and Husband looked over a farm in Douglas County, Missouri (“the farm”) 3 on one of his business trips to transport horses. In 2003, Wife purchased the farm for $140,900, using money she had received from her father’s trust after he passed away in 2002. Wife purchased the farm in her sole name, there was no mortgage debt against it, and nothing was owed on the farm at the time of trial.

When the parties left California to move to Missouri and live on the farm, Wife sold her California residence, netting $195,767.19. Wife used “Virtually all” of the proceeds from this sale to improve the farm and purchase equipment for it. 4 A barn was constructed on the property at a cost of approximately $100,000; the farmhouse was remodeled and expanded; and equipment including a tractor, corral panels, portable stalls, and “a squeeze shoot [sic]” were purchased. The couple eventually married in 2007. The money that Wife had used for making improvements to the farm ran out in 2004, and no improvements to the farm were made while Husband and Wife were married. Wife testified that Husband did not “contribute any monies to the acquisition [of] or improvement to the [farm.]”

Wife testified that after they married, Husband “work[ed] off of the property at various sale barns” “shoeing horsesf,]” and he used the farm to deal in cattle and to train horses for other people. Wife never received any money from these endeavors. Husband’s interrogatory responses, dated March 5, 2012, were admitted as Wife’s Exhibit 28, and Husband’s answer to interrogatory no. 3 stated that he had three employers during the previous three years: the stockyard, at $240 per week; “DRS[,]” as a welder at $430 per week; and self-employment, “[r]aising/[t]raining [h]orses” at “$0-$20,000 yearly!.]” Husband testified that “[d]uring the time of the marriage ... from 2007” until trial, his “business there on the farm was 100-percent cash.” He testified that some months he would make $500 and other months he would make $5,000. Husband also testified that since the end of March 2012, he had been working for “WCI Construction, Whitehead Construction, Incorporated.”

Wife began working for Walmart in 2004. In 2007 she was promoted to the position of “asset protection coordinator” for one of Walmart’s stores. Wife earned $36,899 in 2010 and $35,419 in 2011. Wife testified that she had a 401(k) retirement plan at Walmart that had an $8,438 balance at the time of trial. Wife testified that in January 2009, Husband was “hounding” her, telling her that he felt “like a hired hand[,]” that he had “no pride in ownership, and that there was nothing going to be done unless his name was put on the deed” to the farm. On January 15th or 16th, 2009, Wife executed a general *734 warranty deed that added Husband as an owner of the farm. Three months later, Husband informed Wife “that he didn’t love [her] anymoref,]” and Wife asked him to move out.

The following month, Wife added Husband’s name to one of her bank accounts, and sometime in 2010, Husband moved back in with Wife. Wife eventually filed her dissolution petition in January 2011.

Wife testified that Husband did not pay any expenses associated with the farm, and he did not pay any household expenses during their marriage, except that he did pay Wife “$90 a month toward [Husband’s] vehicle insurance[,]” and Husband sometimes paid for some of his own groceries.

Wife testified that Husband did not work to maintain the farm, except that on the “very rare occasion” he would “brush hog” the property “for an hour or so[,]” he would sometimes fix broken barbed wire, and on one occasion in 2009, he helped sand the dining room floor “for about 10 or 15 minutes” while Wife made him breakfast. Wife recalled on one occasion that Husband stood and visited with the neighbors while the neighbors were helping her rebuild a fence.

A neighbor, Alyson Burton, testified that over the last couple of years, she was usually at the farm “three to four times a week[.]” She had helped Wife build fences between their property and around Wife’s house. Ms. Burton stated, “[I]f we were both off work, we were out there doing what we could.” Ms. Burton saw Husband help roll up some old fence on one occasion when others were “working on building the fence[,]” but other than that, she had not seen Husband working on the farm.

Husband did not dispute that Wife had invested “over $300,000” in the farm. At trial, Husband was asked, “What is the monetary value that you would assign to what you are contending is your contribution [to the purchase of the farm]?” His reply was, “I’d have no idea right now.” Husband also acknowledged that he did not have any documentation for “any contribution of finances that [he] made to the acquisition, improvement, or maintenance of [the farm.]” When asked, “If you had to put a dollar amount on how much labor you’ve put in the farm, would you even be able to venture a guess?[,]” Husband replied, “No.”

John Sutton, a realtor and auctioneer, testified that he prepared a “market value analysis” of the farm. That analysis suggested that the value of the farm at the time of trial was between $280,000 and 235,000. Wife put “a rough estimate” on “the value of the farm at $200,000[.]”

Wife’s Interrogatory No. 11 in Exhibit 28 sought information on any transfers of property that Husband might have engaged in during the previous three years. It stated:

If you have transferred any real or personal property within the past three years, please state:
a. The property transferred, and if real estate, provide the legal description of the property;
b. The date you transferred the property;
c. The name and addresses of the person to whom you transferred the property;
d. The amount you sold the property for and whether you have been paid all or part of the sales price. If only part, state the amount you have been paid and when the balance is due.

The following was the entirety of Husband’s answer to that interrogatory:

*735 ANSWER: Property 80 acres on CR 321; 2009; [Husband]; marriage transfer

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Christine Ann Lollar v. Richard Dwain Lollar
Missouri Court of Appeals, 2019
McKinney v. Smith
520 S.W.3d 533 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2017)
Lori L. England v. Jesse W. England
454 S.W.3d 912 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
426 S.W.3d 730, 2014 WL 1379191, 2014 Mo. App. LEXIS 388, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kim-flora-petitioner-respondent-v-bradley-l-flora-moctapp-2014.