Long v. Long

135 S.W.3d 538, 2004 Mo. App. LEXIS 815, 2004 WL 1217694
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 4, 2004
Docket25723
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 135 S.W.3d 538 (Long v. Long) 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
Long v. Long, 135 S.W.3d 538, 2004 Mo. App. LEXIS 815, 2004 WL 1217694 (Mo. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

ROBERT S. BARNEY, Presiding Judge.

Appellant Gordon L. Long (“Husband”) appeals from the dissolution of marriage decree entered by the Honorable Don Bur-rell, Jr., (“Family Court Judge”) after a hearing before Family Court Commissioner Scott Tinsley.

Husband and Respondent Catherine M. Long (“Wife”) were married on September 6, 1994. At the time of the hearing, Husband was 60 years old and Wife was 56 years old. When the parties married, Husband was working at Dairy Farmers of America 1 as the director of pension and personnel services and Wife worked at St. John’s Hospital as a nurse.

Just prior to the marriage, Wife had gone through a bankruptcy proceeding, and therefore, she brought only $1500.00 into the marriage. Husband brought approximately $84,000.00 into the marriage, including his equity in a house where the parties lived for the first few years of their marriage (“the South Sparks Street House”).

In October 1998, Husband’s position with Dairy Farmers of America was eliminated and Husband was offered a similar position in Kansas City. While Wife told Husband she preferred to stay in Springfield, she informed Husband it was his decision whether to take the job or retire. Husband elected to retire and has not worked since that time. Husband received $26,000.00 as severance pay upon his retirement.

In 2000, Husband received an inheritance of approximately $94,400.00, which Husband deposited into joint accounts with Wife. The equity in the Sparks Street House and a portion of Husband’s inheritance was used to purchase the marital home that was then titled in Husband’s and Wife’s names (“the Sunset Street House”). At the time of the hearing, the parties had no outstanding debt on the Sunset Street House.

*541 Husband and Wife separated on March 29, 2002. After the separation, Wife received over $130,000.00 in inheritance, which she deposited in an account in her sole name. According to Wife, she expected to receive an additional $80,000.00 to $36,000.00 together with $12,000.00 in in- . terest earnings from the same inheritance.

On July 30, 2002, Wife filed a petition for dissolution of marriage. A hearing on Wife’s motion was held before Commissioner Tinsley on May 28, 2003. Prior to this hearing, Husband and Wife were able to reach an agreement regarding certain non-marital property, which the parties stipulated to at the healing. On June 3, 2003, Commissioner Tinsley entered Findings and Recommendations for Judgment and Decree of Dissolution of Marriage, which were adopted by the Family Court Judge on June 4, 2003.

In the judgment, Wife was awarded non-marital property valued at $250,768.49 plus $232.45 per month in earnings derived from a pension plan, together with marital property valued at $161,393.00. 2 Husband was awarded non-marital property valued at $252,930.00 plus $870.00 per month in earnings from his pension plan, and marital property valued at $211,360.00. As such, Husband was awarded approximately 56.7 percent of the marital property, and Wife was awarded approximately 43.3 percent of the marital property. Wife’s award included liquid assets of $242,965.49 in non-marital property and $159,817.00 in marital property. Husband’s award included liquid assets of $238,243.00 in non-marital property and $35,125.00 in marital property. Husband was also awarded as marital property the Sunset Street House valued at $175,000.00. The judgment included an order that Husband pay Wife $1500.00 for attorney fees.

On June 20, 2003, Husband filed a Motion for Rehearing, which was denied on July 1, 2003. This appeal followed. Husband raises two points on appeal, addressed below.

In his first point, Husband maintains the court’s judgment was an abuse of discretion and was not supported by substantial evidence because the court failed to consider that: (1) Husband contributed significantly more to the acquisition of marital property than Wife; (2) Wife received substantial inheritance after the separation while the majority of Husband’s pre-marital and inheritance property was transmuted into marital property during the marriage; (3) Husband is retired with a fixed income and suffers from osteoporosis while Wife is employed with an income of over $50,000.00 per year, is living with a man who shares expenses, is in good health, and has “better economic prospects than Husband;” and (4) Wife was awarded “the vast majority of the parties’ liquid bank accounts” while the marital home constituted the bulk of marital property awarded to Husband. 3

“In a court-tried case, the decree of the trial court must be affirmed unless there is no substantial evidence to support it, it is against the weight of the evidence, or it erroneously declares or applies the law.” Rivers v. Rivers, 21 S.W.3d 117, 121 (Mo. *542 App.2000). The trial court has broad discretion in identifying and assigning value to marital property. Farley v. Farley, 51 S.W.3d 159, 164 (Mo.App.2001); Beckham v. Beckham, 41 S.W.3d 908, 911 (Mo.App.2001). The trial court is also given broad discretion in dividing property, and we will interfere with its decision only if the division is so unduly weighted in favor of one party that it amounts to an abuse of discretion. Kirkwood v. Kirkwood, 77 S.W.3d 675, 680 (Mo.App.2002); King v. King, 66 S.W.3d 28, 32-33 (Mo.App.2001). The trial court abuses its discretion only when its ruling is “clearly against the logic of the circumstances and is so arbitrary and unreasonable as to shock one’s sense of justice and indicate a lack of careful consideration.” In re Marriage of Holden, 81 S.W.3d 217, 225 (Mo.App.2002).

Furthermore, we review the evidence and inferences in the light most favorable to the trial court’s decision and disregard all contrary evidence and inferences. Kirkwood, 77 S.W.3d at 680; Love v. Love, 72 S.W.3d 167, 171 (Mo.App.2002). “Judging credibility and assigning weight to evidence and testimony are matters ‘for the trial court, which is free to believe none, part, or all of the testimony of any witnesses.’ ” Love, 72 S.W.3d at 171 (quoting In re Marriage of Haugh, 978 S.W.2d 80, 82 (Mo.App.1998)). We presume that the trial court took into account all evidence and believed such testimony and evidence that is consistent with its judgment. Kirkwood, 77 S.W.3d at 680. The party challenging the trial court’s judgment in a dissolution of marriage has the burden of demonstrating error. Id.; King, 66 S.W.3d at 33.

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Bluebook (online)
135 S.W.3d 538, 2004 Mo. App. LEXIS 815, 2004 WL 1217694, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/long-v-long-moctapp-2004.