Mosley v. Mosley

601 A.2d 599, 1992 D.C. App. LEXIS 7, 1992 WL 6824
CourtDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 7, 1992
Docket90-1311
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 601 A.2d 599 (Mosley v. Mosley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District of Columbia Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mosley v. Mosley, 601 A.2d 599, 1992 D.C. App. LEXIS 7, 1992 WL 6824 (D.C. 1992).

Opinion

ROGERS, Chief Judge:

Appellant Robert Mosley appeals from a judgment distributing marital property on the ground that the trial court abused its discretion by distributing a substantially greater portion of marital property to ap-pellee, Doris Mosley. We hold that the trial judge, in concluding that the marital property should be divided with one-third to Mr. Mosley and two-thirds to Mrs. Mosley, erred by requiring, as part of the distribution, that appellant reimburse Mrs. Mosley for monies she spent on the parties’ District of Columbia residential property since 1980 without first determining the value of such reimbursement. We, therefore, reverse and remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings.

I.

Mr. and Mrs. Mosley were married on October 27, 1949, and had eight children. During their marriage, both parties contributed to the household by working. Mr. Mosley earned his living as a carpenter, while Mrs. Mosley, who made more money over the course of the marriage, worked primarily as a teacher and an employee of the federal government. However, the trial judge found that the parties did not contribute equally to the household in other respects. Although Mr. Mosley occasionally took the children on outings and did some cleaning, the judge found that Mrs. Mosley’s daily contributions were much more substantial. She did considerable household work, including cooking, dish-washing, laundry, and cleaning, for her husband and eight children. By contrast, Mr. Mosley left home on at least two occasions and frequently spent nights out drinking which ultimately led to an alcoholism problem and incidents of violence toward his family. The judge also found that Mrs. Mosley’s efforts were primarily responsible for the investments in property which were made during the marriage. The parties also lived apart during their marriage while appellee worked in Pennsylvania. Thereafter, Mr. Mosley filed for an absolute divorce on August 21, 1990.

The trial judge’s determination of what constituted marital property is undisputed. 1 The judge awarded Mr. Mosley the vacant lots in Virginia valued at $6,500; 75% of the D.C. residential property ($64,129); and his pension and Social Security worth $8,782 per year. The judge distributed to Mrs. Mosley substantially more of the marital property because her contribution to the family unit was greater. Her share included the vacant lots in Bowie valued at $6,860; the Pennsylvania residential property valued at $89,100; her pension of $22,-944 per year; the savings of $21,695; 25% of the D.C. residential property ($21,376); a credit for all monies spent on the D.C. property since 1980 on items such as utilities, taxes, major repairs and major appliances; and selected personal property.

II.

Under D.C.Code § 16-910 (1989 Repl.), a trial judge must distribute marital property “in a manner that is equitable, just and reasonable, after consideration of all relevant factors_” Thus, a trial judge has broad discretion in distributing marital property, Bowser v. Bowser, 515 A.2d 1128, 1130 (D.C.1986); Powell v. Powell, 457 A.2d 391, 393 (D.C.1983); Leftwich v. Leftwich, 442 A.2d 139, 142 (D.C.1982), *601 Benvenuto v. Benvenuto, 389 A.2d 795, 797 (D.C.1978), and “[s]o long as the trial court considers all relevant factors, its conclusions will not be disturbed on appeal.” Bowser v. Bowser, supra, 515 A.2d at 1130 (citations omitted). The nonexclusive list of relevant factors include:

the duration of the marriage, any prior marriage of either party, the age, health, occupation, amount and sources of income, vocational skills, employability, assets, debts, and needs of each of the parties, provisions for the custody of minor children, whether the distribution is in lieu of or in addition to maintenance, and the opportunity of each for future acquisition of assets and income. The court shall also consider each party’s contribution to the aquisition, preservation, appreciation, dissipation or depreciation in value of the assets subject to distribution under this subsection, and each party’s contribution as a homemaker or to the family unit.

D.C.Code § 16-910(b).

Contrary to appellant’s contention, the record reflects that the trial judge considered all relevant factors in making her findings of fact and that the findings were not conclusory. Although the parties’ marriage lasted more than forty years, the court has never held that a marriage of long duration necessarily makes a distribution substantially favoring one party either an abuse of discretion or an indication that the relevant factors under § 16 — 910(b) were not considered. The fact that a distribution “clearly favors [one party] ... does not [by itself] establish an abuse of discretion, since the issue is to be determined by an assessment of the totality of the circumstances.” Murville v. Murville, 433 A.2d 1106, 1110 (D.C.1981) (citing Campbell v. Campbell, 353 A.2d 276, 279 (D.C.1976)).

The trial judge acknowledged the marriage’s long duration and the presumption that marital property should be distributed equally in such cases. Also, as Mr. Mosley admits in his brief, the trial judge considered the salary contributions of both parties, Mr. Mosley’s construction on the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania homes, Mr. Mosley’s contribution to the family unit, the age and poor health of both parties and Mrs. Mosley’s greater financial security. 2 The only factor that Mr. Mosley claims was never addressed — “the possibility that Mrs. Mosley might return to work” — was addressed by the judge in her findings that “Mrs. Mosley, at least at this time, is not working at any other job and did not testify about contemplating doing so,” but that, among other things, Mrs. Mosley’s financial management skills would enable her to “increase her capital and possibly amass some future major assets.”

Nevertheless, although the trial court has broad discretion, this court noted in Bowser v. Bowser, supra, that “the trial court’s findings of fact, conclusions of law and judgment, taken together, must present an integrated, internally consistent and readily understood whole.” 515 A.2d at 1130. 3 In Bowser, although the court determined that Mrs. Bowser’s $25,000 down payment on the marital home “far outweighed” the contribution of Mr. Bowser, it awarded Mr. Bowser $10,000 of the equity without determining how much equity was in the house at the time of trial. Id. *602

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Bluebook (online)
601 A.2d 599, 1992 D.C. App. LEXIS 7, 1992 WL 6824, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mosley-v-mosley-dc-1992.