Marriage of McIntosh v. McIntosh

740 N.W.2d 1, 2007 Minn. App. LEXIS 135, 2007 WL 2997418
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedOctober 16, 2007
DocketA06-1432, A06-1444
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 740 N.W.2d 1 (Marriage of McIntosh v. McIntosh) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marriage of McIntosh v. McIntosh, 740 N.W.2d 1, 2007 Minn. App. LEXIS 135, 2007 WL 2997418 (Mich. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

OPINION

HALBROOKS, Judge.

In this consolidated matter, appellant argues that the district court erred by including, as marital property, the undistributed subchapter S corporation earnings and the rents paid to the business but owed to appellant. Respondent argues that the district court erred when it (1) determined that the proceeds from the sale of appellant’s mother’s home during the marriage constituted nonmarital property and (2) credited appellant for the amount appellant paid in federal and state tax liabilities incurred during the marriage. Because we conclude that the district court erred by treating the undistributed subchapter S earnings and the rents paid to the business as marital property, we reverse that portion of the dissolution judgment. Because we conclude that the district court did not clearly err in determining that the proceeds from the sale of appellant’s mother’s home constituted non-marital property and that appellant should *3 be credited for the taxes that he paid, we affirm the district court on those issues.

Appellant also challenges the district court’s decision to extend the original order for protection against him, arguing that (1) because he stipulated to the original order for protection without a finding of the existence of domestic abuse, the district court must'make a finding of domestic abuse in order to extend an existing order and (2) the evidence does not support the district court’s decision to extend the order for protection. Because the district court is not required to make a finding of domestic abuse in order to extend an order for protection if the original order is based on a stipulation and because the evidence sufficiently supports the extension, we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion by granting respondent’s request to extend the order for protection against appellant.

We therefore affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.

FACTS

I. Marriage Dissolution

The marriage of appellant Kenneth King McIntosh and respondent Marjorie Mary McIntosh was dissolved by judgment and decree on September 12, 2005. The parties have eight children, six of whom were minors at the time of the dissolution. The parties agreed that respondent would be awarded sole legal and physical custody of the minor children, subject to appellant’s parenting time. Appellant was ordered to pay child support in the amount of $2,474 per month and temporary monthly spousal maintenance of $8,000 for three years. The parties also agreed that the homestead, valued at $450,000, would be awarded to respondent.

Appellant was the owner of Unidale Insurance Agency, a subchapter S eorporation that was described as a “substandard” agency dealing with risk insurance products for people or companies unable to obtain insurance elsewhere. Appellant was the only licensed agent at Unidale and the only person to write policies and perform consulting services. He took an annual salary of $30,000 from the company and received the balance of his compensation in the form of distributions from the subchapter S corporation. Although the distribution was technically available to appellant at the end of the calendar year, his practice was to hold back much of the distribution until his income taxes were prepared the following March.

During trial, both parties presented expert testimony concerning the value of Unidale’s assets. The experts agreed that Unidale’s value had two components — the assets of the company (name reputation, good will, etc.) and the cash on hand. Stephen Dennis, respondent’s expert, testified that the value of the company was $220,861. Edward Bates, appellant’s expert, determined that the value of the agency was at most $78,330, and at the very least $67,913. The district court, concluding that “Mr Dennis’ valuation did not take adequately into account the fact that Unidale is a substandard risk agency with very . limited marketability,” determined that the fair market value of Unidale was $67,913.

The district court also examined the amount of cash in Unidale’s bank accounts. The district court found that Unidale had a bank account with University Bank carrying a balance of $101,673.26, and another account with Western Bank valued at $103,942.12. Appellant’s expert, Jeffrey Pletcher, reconciled the accounts payable and owner’s equity from the accounts and concluded that Unidale had a cash value of $65,199.12 after deducting: (1) $22,630 for undistributed subchapter S earnings; (2) *4 $14,443 for rents collected by Unidale but owed to appellant; (3) $70,093.98 for insurance company payables; (4) $6,097.64 for regular accounts payable; (5) $7,009.40 for commissions received in 2003 for 2004; (6) $7,009.40 for policy fees received in 2003 for 2004; and (7) $13,132.84 for insurance deposits received in 2003 for policies to be issued in 2004. The district court determined that if Unidale were sold, all of the above amounts, with the exception of the undistributed subchapter S earnings and the rents paid to Unidale but owed to appellant, would be payable by Unidale from available cash. The district court-determined that the undistributed sub-chapter S earnings and rents paid to Uni-dale but owed to appellant were a marital asset and therefore would not be payable to a buyer. Accordingly, the district court declined to deduct the amounts for undistributed subchapter S earnings and rents paid, concluding that Unidale had a cash balance of $102,272.12 that constituted a marital asset.

In addition, in its analysis of “investment accounts,” the district court made the following finding:

The parties had a Certificate of Deposit at Lino Lakes State Bank with Certificate No. 3319 having a balance in the amount of $100,000.00. On June 13, 2003, [appellant] cashed in the certificate. A new certificate in the amount of $50,000.00 was purchased with [appellant] keeping $50,000.00 plus interest of $2,202.78 for himself. [Appellant] is being awarded this bank account with its. value being taken into consideration in the division of the marital estate.

Appellant subsequently brought a motion for a new trial or amended findings, requesting, in part, that the district court amend its findings with regard to: (1) the cash value of Unidale and (2) the amount of credit due appellant for marital tax liabilities paid using the $50,000 that he cashed out of the Lino Lakes certificate of deposit. The district court denied appellant’s request to amend the finding on the cash value of the Unidale accounts, finding that “the matter was fully litigated at the trial, including presentation of experts and evidence by both parties” and that the district court “properly and thoroughly considered the matter and in [its] discretion, fully and appropriately decided this matter.” But the district court granted appellant’s request to amend the finding on the Lino Lakes certificate of deposit, finding that “appropriate credit was not given to [appellant] regarding marital tax liabilities that he accounted fqr as paid from these amounts.”

II. Order for Protection

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740 N.W.2d 1, 2007 Minn. App. LEXIS 135, 2007 WL 2997418, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marriage-of-mcintosh-v-mcintosh-minnctapp-2007.