Long v. Long

957 S.W.2d 825, 1997 Tenn. App. LEXIS 78, 1997 WL 740786
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedFebruary 4, 1997
Docket02A01-9506-CH-00135
StatusPublished
Cited by75 cases

This text of 957 S.W.2d 825 (Long v. Long) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Long v. Long, 957 S.W.2d 825, 1997 Tenn. App. LEXIS 78, 1997 WL 740786 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinions

HEWITT P. TOMLIN, Jr., Senior Judge.

In this divorce case Dorothy H. Long (“Wife”) filed suit for divorce in the Chancery Court of Shelby County from David G. Long (“Husband”) alleging inappropriate marital conduct. Husband filed an answer and a cross-complaint. The parties stipulated that Husband was guilty of inappropriate marital conduct. The chancellor entered an order awarding Wife a divorce on these grounds. The chancellor at the same time appointed a Special Master and assigned him the responsibility of ascertaining if either party had dissipated or secreted marital assets during the marriage, determining the value of certain marital property and the current ownership of same and recommending to the court an appropriate division of marital assets, along with alimony, if any, as well as the assessment of costs and fees. After several hearings, the Special Master filed his final report to the chancellor covering the scope of his assignment. The chancellor affirmed the findings of the Special Master and included the Master’s findings in his final decree.

Both parties have appealed. Husband has presented three issues for our consideration. Did the trial court err in: (1) considering testimony as to acts of inappropriate marital conduct and adultery? (2) making the distribution of the marital property and (3) awarding Wife her attorney fees and expenses?

Wife has submitted five issues for our consideration: Did the trial court err: (1) in awarding her rehabilitative alimony as opposed to alimony in futuro; (2) in fading to find that the waiving of Husband’s interest in his mother’s home constituted a dissipation of marital assets; (3) in using replacement value as opposed to fair market value in evaluating the household furnishings; (4) in awarding certain certificates of deposits to Wife which were no longer were in existence; (5) in ordering Wife to pay 50% of the Special Master’s fees and expenses? For the reasons hereinafter stated, we modify and affirm.

The parties were married in 1953 and separated in 1990. Four children were bom of the marriage, all of whom have reached adulthood. The record is uneontradicted [827]*827that during this marriage of long duration Wife performed all the basic homemaking activities and was also the dominant caregiver of the children, in addition to performing all the general maintenance on the home and yard. Husband is president and sole stockholder of Release Coatings, Inc., a business he began some twenty-five years ago that provides a variety of services to the baking industry in the southeast. The record reflects that Wife worked part-time as a bookkeeper at Release Coatings from 1974 to 1990.

As previously noted, Wife’s suit for divorce was based upon inappropriate marital conduct, which was later stipulated to by Husband. While not related to the issues before us, it might be noted that the chancellor appointed a Special Master prior to the entry of the decree for divorce to investigate certain financial matters relative to Husband and Release Coatings. After the divorce decree was entered the chancellor once again appointed a Special Master, the order specifying his duties, stated in part as follows:

... as is necessary to identify and value any additional marital and separate assets of the parties, if any, on or before 2 Jan 92, determine if either party has dissipated or secreted marital assets during the term of the marriage, and determine the income and expenses of the respective parties; this matter is further referred to the Special Master for the purpose of recommending to this court an appropriate division of marital property, including any adjustment for dissipated assets, if any, what alimony, if any, should be awarded to Plaintiff, what attorneys fees and suit expenses of Plaintiffs, should be paid by defendant, if any, the allocation of the Special Master fee and make any further recommendations to the court that may be appropriate.

The Special Master held a total of four hearings. The Master filed his initial “Final Report,” which was objected to by both parties. He subsequently filed his “Amended and Supplemental Final Report” which was objected to by Wife. The chancellor then entered a final decree affirming the Special Master’s Supplemental Final Report. This appeal followed.

I.Consideration of Specific Acts of Fault by the Court

Husband initially contends that the Special Master erred in taking proof from Wife concerning specific acts of inappropriate marital conduct, which he contends should have been prohibited as a result of his stipulating that he was at fault in the breakup of the marriage. Because of this stipulation he contends that the Special Master should not have heard testimony from Mrs. Long concerning his physical abuse of her, his public emotional abuse of her, his involvement in what clearly appeared to be an on going adulterous relationship and lastly, but by no means least, an ongoing process of secreting and/or dissipating marital assets.

This contention must fail for at least two reasons. First of all, as to this issue Husband has failed to comply with 27(a)(7) T.R.A.P., which requires all arguments in an appellant’s brief to contain “citations to the authorities and appropriate reference to the record (which may be quoted verbatim) relied on.” Furthermore, Rule 6, Rules of the Court of Appeals, provides as follows:

(a) Written argument in regard to each issue on appeal shall contain:

1. A statement by the Appellant of the alleged erroneous action of the Trial Court which raises the issue and a statement by the Appellee of any action of the Trial Court which is relied upon to correct the alleged error, with citation to the Record where the erroneous or corrective action is recorded.
2. A statement showing how such alleged error was seasonably called to the attention of the Trial Judge with citation to that part of the Record where Appellant’s challenge of the alleged error is recorded.
3. A statement reciting wherein Appellant was prejudiced by such alleged error, with citations to the Record showing where the resultant prejudice is recorded.
4. A statement of each determinative fact relied upon with citation to the Record where evidence of each such fact may be found.
[828]*828(b) No complaint of or reliance upon action by the Trial Court -will be considered on Appeal unless the argument thereon contains a specific reference to the page or pages of the Record where such action is recorded. No assertion of fact will be considered on Appeal unless the argument upon such assertion contains a reference to the page or pages of the Record where evidence of such fact is recorded.

This court has held on several occasions that where a party in its brief on appeal has advanced certain arguments or has set forth what he or she alleged to be facts without any citation to the record, this court is not under a duty to minutely search the record to verify these unsupported allegations. Schoen v. J.C. Bradford and Co., 642 S.W.2d 420, 426 (Tenn.App.1982). We accordingly hold that issue is without merit.

II. The Distribution of Marital Property

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
957 S.W.2d 825, 1997 Tenn. App. LEXIS 78, 1997 WL 740786, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/long-v-long-tennctapp-1997.