Molnar v. Molnar

2025 Ohio 5114
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 5, 2025
Docket24CA5
StatusPublished

This text of 2025 Ohio 5114 (Molnar v. Molnar) 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
Molnar v. Molnar, 2025 Ohio 5114 (Ohio Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

[Cite as Molnar v. Molnar, 2025-Ohio-5114.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT MEIGS COUNTY

HOLLIS MOLNAR, : : Case No. 24CA5 Plaintiff-Appellant, : : v. : DECISION AND JUDGMENT : ENTRY STANLEY MOLNAR, : : Defendant-Appellee. : RELEASED: 11/05/2025

________________________________________________________________ APPEARANCES:

Sierra Meek, Nolan & Meek Co., LPA, Nelsonville, Ohio, for appellant.

Adam Salisbury, Pomeroy, Ohio, for appellee. ________________________________________________________________

Wilkin, J.

{¶1} This is an appeal by Hollis Molnar (“Wife”) of a Meigs County Court of

Common Pleas, Domestic Relations Division, judgment entry that granted her

complaint for divorce. On appeal, Wife asserts four assignments of error.

{¶2} In her first assignment of error, Wife claims that the trial court erred

by failing to determine the date of the termination of the parties’ marriage and by

failing to value marital assets accordingly. Because the court did not determine

the duration of the marriage, which is per se an abuse of discretion, we sustain

Wife’s first assignment of error.

{¶3} In her second assignment of error, Wife argues that the trial court

erred by finding that Husband satisfied his burden of tracing comingled assets to

pre-marital property. Because the duration of the marriage, which the court has

yet to determine, is critical in distinguishing marital, separate, and post- Meigs App. No. 24CA5 2

separation assets and liabilities, and determining appropriate dates for valuation

of property, Wife’s second assignment of error is not ripe for review.

{¶4} In her third assignment of error, Wife asserts that the trial court erred

by awarding Husband reimbursement for a marital loan in contravention of former

R.C. 3103.06. We find no law that prevents spouses from making loans to one

another and there is a law to support such conduct. Therefore, we overrule

Wife’s third assignment of error.

{¶5} In her fourth assignment of error, Wife asserts that the court erred in

refusing to award her spousal support. Because the court is required to consider

the duration of the marriage in determining a spousal support award, if any, we

find this assignment is not ripe for review.

{¶6} Therefore, we sustain Wife’s first assignment of error, overrule her

third assignment of error, and find that her second and fourth assignments of

error are not yet ripe for review. Accordingly, we reverse in part the trial court’s

judgment and remand the cause to the trial court for further proceedings

consistent with the court’s decision.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

{¶7} The parties were married on April 16, 2003. Husband had worked for

the New Jersey State Police for 30 years. Wife had worked for Levi Strauss prior

to the marriage. Each party owned a home in New Jersey at the time of their

marriage. Husband’s home was unencumbered, but Wife’s had a mortgage.

Husband also owned an 81.5-acre property in Meigs County, Ohio that he had

acquired in 1991. Meigs App. No. 24CA5 3

{¶8} Husband retired on July 1, 2004, and the parties planned to move to

Ohio and build a home on the 81.5-acre parcel. Husband began receiving

payments from his pension and from his deferred compensation (retirement

funds). The estimated value of Husband’s deferred compensation fund was

$140,000. Husband’s deferred compensation was exhausted by June 2013.

Wife testified that in 2013, she received $19,000 in retirement funds from Levi

Strauss.

{¶9} The parties sold their New Jersey homes and the house in Ohio was

completed before Christmas 2004, when the parties moved in. Husband also

purchased a 55-acre property in 2010 and in 2016 he purchased a 10-acre

property. Both properties were adjacent to the 81.5-acre property.

{¶10} In September 2016, Texas Eastern Transmission Company (TETC)

acquired an easement across the 81.5- and 55-acre properties. TETC paid the

parties $350,000 for the easement. Subsequently, the parties were paid

$125,000 for damages caused by the easement to their property.

{¶11} On November 3, 2022, Wife filed a complaint for divorce in Meigs

County, Ohio. After a four-day final hearing, the trial court issued an amended

final order that made numerous findings and conclusions.

{¶12} Relying on Husband’s appraisal, the court valued the marital

residence at $438,520.1 The court calculated the financial contribution that each

party made in constructing the residence. The court determined that Husband

1 The appraiser valued the residence and an imaginary three acres of property upon which it was built at $450,000. The court found that the three-acre lot was worth $11,480 and subtracted that from $450,000 to find that the value of the residence was $438,520. Meigs App. No. 24CA5 4

contributed $293,000 and the wife contributed $102,000. The court found that

$120,000 of Husband’s $293,000 contribution originated from his retirement

funds and therefore required an “adjustment.” To determine what portion of the

$120,000 was his separate property, if any, the trial court applied the “coverture

fraction” devised by the Supreme Court in Hoyt v. Hoyt. 53 Ohio St. 3d 177, 182

(1990). This method “comput[es] the ratio of the number of years of employment

of the employed spouse during marriage to the total years of his or her

employment” to determine what percentage of retirement was marital property.

Id. Husband worked for 15 months while married and worked a total of 300

months prior to his marriage. Dividing 15 by 300 indicated that .05 or 5% of

Husband’s retirement income was marital. The remaining 95% of the retirement

funds were his separate property. The 5% marital portion of the property is

divided in half, providing 2.5% to each party.

{¶13} Applying the coverture fraction to the $120,000 of retirement funds

in question, the court determined $6,000 was marital property, which was divided

equally, with $3,000 going to each party. The court then adjusted the parties’

contribution accordingly by reducing the Husband’s contribution by $3000

(making it $290,000) and increasing Wife’s contribution by $3,000 (making it

$105,000). Converting those numbers to percentages, the court found that the

Wife contributed 27% and Husband 73% of the funding, and multiplying those

percentages by $438,520 (appraised value of the home), the court determined

that Wife was entitled to receive $118,400.40 and Husband $320,119.60 for their

respective contributions in constructing the home. Meigs App. No. 24CA5 5

{¶14} The court then determined that the 81.5 acres - that Husband had

purchased prior to the marriage and upon which the residence was constructed -

was Husband’s separate property without analysis.

{¶15} The court then considered the 55 and 10-acre properties that

Husband had purchased during the marriage. The court again adopted

Husband’s appraisal, which value both properties together at $163,000. The

court found that both properties were purchased using funds from Husband’s

pension. The court found that at the time these properties were purchased

neither party had reportable taxable employment income. Therefore, the court

determined that the funds used to purchase these properties were traceable to

Husband’s pension, which was his separate property. However, the court again

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Bluebook (online)
2025 Ohio 5114, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/molnar-v-molnar-ohioctapp-2025.