Meister v. Meister, Unpublished Decision (10-12-2000)

CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 12, 2000
DocketNo. 77110.
StatusUnpublished

This text of Meister v. Meister, Unpublished Decision (10-12-2000) (Meister v. Meister, Unpublished Decision (10-12-2000)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Meister v. Meister, Unpublished Decision (10-12-2000), (Ohio Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

JOURNAL ENTRY AND OPINION
Plaintiff-appellant/cross-appellee Marta E. Meister appeals from the decree of divorce terminating her marriage to defendant-appellee/cross-appellant Robert M. Meister.

Marta Meister assigns the following errors for review:

I. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN AWARDING THE MARITAL HOME AND ALL APPRECIATION ON SEPARATE PROPERTY TO THE HUSBAND CONTRARY TO THE MANDATE OF REVISED CODE S3105.171.

II. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN AWARDING THE ENTIRE PENN MUTUAL ANNUITY TO THE HUSBAND WHEN ITS PURCHASE PRICE WAS NOT TRACED TO SEPARATE PROPERTY AS REQUIRED BY REVISED CODE S3105.171(6)(b).

III. THE COURT'S CHILD SUPPORT ORDER IS CONTRARY TO OHIO REVISED CODE S3113.215 AND IS UNCONSCIONABLE.

IV. THE TRIAL COURT'S SPOUSAL SUPPORT AWARD IS CONTRARY TO REVISED CODE S3105.18 AND IS UNCONSCIONABLE.

V. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN NOT AWARDING ANY LEGAL FEES PENDENTE LITE.

VI. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN AWARDING ONLY HALF OF THE WIFE'S LEGAL FEES AND EXPENSES.

VII. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN ADMITTING AN EXPERT WITNESS REPORT INTO EVIDENCE, CONTRARY TO EVIDENCE RULES 702, 802, 901, 1002 AND 1003, CUYAHOGA COUNTY COMMON PLEAS COURT — GENERAL DIVISION LOCAL RULE 21.1, AND CUYAHOGA COUNTY COMMON PLEAS COURT — DOMESTIC RELATIONS DIVISION RULE 12(B).

Finding the third assignment of error to have merit, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.

I.
On March 25, 1983, Robert and Marta Meister married shortly after Robert Meister obtained a divorce from his first wife in the Dominican Republic. The property settlement and financial issues from his first marriage were not resolved until December 20, 1984. Robert Meister had two daughters with his first wife. Four children were born as issue of the marriage of Robert and Marta Meister: Claudia (DOB September 1, 1983), Justin (DOB March 11, 1985), Liane (DOB February 9, 1987), and Joel (DOB August 19, 1988). All the children received private schooling.

At the time of the marriage, Robert Meister worked as a veterinarian with his own practice. Marta Meister had earned three graduate degrees. She received masters degrees in history and library science in the 1970s. In 1980, Marta Meister earned her masters degree in business management. Marta Meister worked as a librarian at the time she and Robert met. In the fall of 1982, Marta Meister began to work for Robert Meister at his animal hospital as an office manager. After Claudia's birth, Marta Meister worked part-time. She received an annual compensation of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00).

In his settlement with his first wife, Robert Meister received the marital home, rental property located on adjacent property, some undeveloped acreage, his veterinary practice, the building and property where the animal hospital was located, two annuities, a brokerage account, three life insurance policies, and various other accounts and stocks. None of the property was encumbered by a mortgage at the time of his marriage to Marta Meister. In return for the marital home, Robert Meister paid his first wife one hundred seventy-five thousand dollars ($175,000.00).

Robert and Marta Meister renovated the marital home and moved in with their family in 1988. At the time of their divorce, the marital residence was worth two hundred eighty thousand dollars ($280,000.00). The rental property was valued at one hundred eighteen thousand dollars ($118,000.00). Over the pendency of the marriage, more rent was collected from the rental property than was expended in taxes and repairs.

Robert Meister's (DOB May 5, 1930) health declined during the marriage. In 1992, Robert Meister had heart bypass surgery. He needed dialysis for kidney problems which developed as a result of his heart condition. Robert Meister received a kidney transplant in 1994. In 1996, he had a stroke and decided to sell his veterinary practice. Appellant sold his veterinary practice and animal hospital for seven hundred fifty thousand dollars ($750,000.00). Robert Meister received two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000.00) as a downpayment. The rest was financed using a fifteen-year installment contract. Robert Meister receives four thousand six hundred fifty-six dollars ($4,656.00) per month from the sale of the practice and seven hundred sixty-nine dollars ($769.00) monthly for the animal hospital real estate. Robert Meister used some of the money he received from the downpayment to purchase a condominium in Virginia for one of his daughters from his first marriage. She does not pay rent to Robert Meister. Robert Meister suffered a heart attack in 1998.

On February 14, 1997, Marta Meister filed a complaint for divorce. On May 21, 1998, the trial court granted the divorce but bifurcated the remaining issues for a hearing. Hearings commenced before the trial court on February 23, 1999, and concluded on July 9, 1999. The trial court awarded Robert Meister the marital home, the rental property, the undeveloped acreage, the Virginia condominium, and the proceeds from the sale of the animal hospital and practice as his separate property. Marta Meister was given the right to remain in the marital residence for eighteen (18) months from October 1, 1999 to March 31, 2001. Robert Meister was responsible for the real estate taxes and homeowner's insurance during this period.

The trial court ordered Robert Meister to pay one thousand one hundred fifty-six dollars ($1,156.00) a month in child support. This figure was computed after a nine hundred sixty dollar ($960.00) social security payment received by the children due to their father's disability was offset dollar for dollar from the child support obligation. Robert Meister is to pay for Claudia's private schooling though twelfth grade and for the three younger children through eighth grade. Robert Meister is to pay for the children's health insurance. Custody of the children was awarded to Marta Meister.

Marta Meister was awarded spousal support of one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500.00) per month for three (3) years. She was awarded six hundred sixty-six thousand twenty-five dollars ($666,025.00) in assets in the property award. The trial court ordered Robert Meister to pay forty-five thousand dollars ($45,000.00) in attorney's fees.

II.
In her first assignment of error, Marta Meister contends the trial court abused its discretion by determining the marital home was Robert Meister's separate property and awarding him the appreciation on other separate properties. Marta Meister asserts the appreciation was not passive and that they purchased the home with marital funds.

A spouse's separate property should be awarded to that spouse. R.C.3105.171(D). Appellate review of a trial court's classification of property as marital or separate will be reversed only if it is against the manifest weight of the evidence. James v. James (1995),101 Ohio App.3d 668, 684. When assessing a challenge to the manifest weight of the evidence, the appellate court weighs the evidence and all reasonable inferences, considers the credibility of the witnesses, and determines whether, in resolving conflicts in the evidence, the fact-finder clearly lost its way and created such a manifest miscarriage of justice that the judgment must be reversed. State v. Thompkins (1997), 78 Ohio St.3d 380, 387.

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Meister v. Meister, Unpublished Decision (10-12-2000), Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/meister-v-meister-unpublished-decision-10-12-2000-ohioctapp-2000.