Organ v. Organ

2014 Ohio 3474
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 13, 2014
Docket26904
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 2014 Ohio 3474 (Organ v. Organ) 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
Organ v. Organ, 2014 Ohio 3474 (Ohio Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

[Cite as Organ v. Organ, 2014-Ohio-3474.]

STATE OF OHIO ) IN THE COURT OF APPEALS )ss: NINTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COUNTY OF SUMMIT )

RICHARD C. ORGAN C.A. No. 26904

Appellant

v. APPEAL FROM JUDGMENT ENTERED IN THE PATRICIA ORGAN COURT OF COMMON PLEAS COUNTY OF SUMMIT, OHIO Appellee CASE No. 2010-01-0191

DECISION AND JOURNAL ENTRY

Dated: August 13, 2014

HENSAL, Judge.

{¶1} Richard Organ appeals a divorce decree entered by the Summit County Court of

Common Pleas, Domestic Relations Division. For the following reasons, this Court affirms.

I.

{¶2} Richard and Patricia Organ married in December 1983. At the time, Wife was 22

years old and about to begin her last semester at Northeastern University, where she obtained a

bachelor of science. Husband was 26 years old and about to begin his last semester at Harvard

Business School, where he earned a master of business administration. After they finished their

degrees, they moved to Hudson, Ohio and worked full time until March 1985, when Wife gave

birth to a son. Because the baby was colicky, Wife quit her job to take care of the child. She

went back to work part-time in 1986, and remained employed until a few months after giving

birth to a daughter. Over the next few years, Husband continued working full-time and Wife

resumed working part-time. 2

{¶3} In 1994, a large company that is headquartered in Kentucky hired Husband to be

its chief financial officer. After the family moved out-of-state, Wife stayed home for a couple

years to help the children adjust to their new community and assist Husband with his company

social obligations. Wife eventually went back to work part-time, but quit in 1998 when Husband

was hired to be the executive vice president of an Ohio company. The family subsequently

moved back to Hudson.

{¶4} After returning to Ohio, Wife worked part-time for a couple of years, then quit her

job to oversee the renovation of a century-home that the parties had purchased. Husband,

meanwhile, became president of his company. In 2007, Husband received a multi-million dollar

bonus after the company he worked for was sold. In 2009, Husband and Wife separated.

Husband filed for divorce the following year. He continued to serve as president of his

company, and received another multi-million dollar bonus in 2011 when the company was sold

again. In April 2012, he left the Ohio company and went to work as the chief executive officer

for a company in California.

{¶5} The parties divided most of their assets evenly, receiving over five million dollars

each. The case proceeded to trial, however, on whether the jewelry that Husband had bought for

Wife was marital property, whether the stock Husband had acquired in the California company

he went to work for and his frequent flier miles were marital property, and whether Wife was

entitled to spousal support. Following several days of testimony, the trial court found that the

jewelry was Wife’s separate property. It found that Husband’s stock in the new company was

his separate property, but that any income generated from it could be considered for spousal

support purposes. Finally, it determined that, for spousal support, Husband must pay Wife

$13,525 per month indefinitely plus 50% of any employment bonuses he receives and 33% of 3

any income or gain he realizes on the stock he acquired in the California company. Husband has

appealed the spousal support award, assigning five errors.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR I

THE TRIAL COURT ERRONEOUSLY AND ARBITRARILY FAILED TO CONSIDER WIFE’S INVESTMENT INCOME FOR SPOUSAL SUPPORT PURPOSES WHILE INCLUDING HUSBAND’S INVESTMENT INCOME FOR SPOUSAL SUPPORT PURPOSES.

{¶1} Husband argues that the trial court incorrectly calculated its spousal support

award. Under Revised Code Section 3105.18(B), “[i]n divorce and legal separation proceedings,

* * * the court of common pleas may award reasonable spousal support to either party.” “In

determining whether spousal support is appropriate and reasonable,” the court shall consider the

factors listed in Section 3105.18(C)(1)(a-n). R.C. 3105.18(C)(1). “This Court reviews a spousal

support award under an abuse of discretion standard.” Hirt v. Hirt, 9th Dist. Medina No.

03CA0110-M, 2004-Ohio-4318, ¶ 8. “An abuse of discretion implies that the court’s decision is

arbitrary, unreasonable, or unconscionable.” Smith v. Smith, 9th Dist. Summit No. 26013, 2012-

Ohio-1716, ¶ 8, citing Blakemore v. Blakemore, 5 Ohio St.3d 217, 219 (1983).

{¶6} Husband notes that the trial court used a “FIN Plan Analysis” to calculate an

equal distribution of the parties’ monthly income. He argues that the court failed to include their

investment income, however, in its calculation. He notes that the parties divided substantial

assets and that he presented expert testimony that Wife will be able to earn $337,000 a year by

investing her share of the assets. According to Husband, the court’s failure to include Wife’s

investment income in its calculation significantly skewed its result1

1 Husband does not actually explain how the failure to include the investment income in the FinPlan calculation skewed the award of spousal support. 4

{¶7} Husband suggests that the reason the court did not include Wife’s investment

income in its calculation is because they divided the marital assets evenly, so any income she

could generate on her half of the assets would be cancelled out in the calculation by the income

he could generate on his half of the assets. Husband argues, however, that the mere fact that he

can also generate investment income on his half of the assets was not a good reason to exclude

Wife’s investment income from the court’s calculation. He notes that he took an advance on his

half of the assets to purchase $500,000 worth of stock from the California company where he

works. Instead of leaving that investment unaffected in its decree, the court determined that he

must pay Wife 33% of any income he generates from it. The court, therefore, included some of

his future investment income in its spousal support calculation but did not include any of Wife’s

investment income. Husband argues that the court’s unequal treatment of the parties’ investment

income was arbitrary, unreasonable, and inequitable.

{¶8} Wife contends that Husband’s livelihood is increasing the value of companies so

that they can be sold for profit. She notes that a large part of their income over the last decade

has come from the incentives he received when the company he was running was sold. She,

therefore, argues that it was appropriate for the court to treat Husband’s future active income

from the stock he has purchased in the California company different than the income she may be

able to generate through passive investments. She also argues that the fact that Husband will

receive 66% of any income or gain that is derived from his investment in the California company

offsets the fact that he cannot invest the $500,000 in other ways. She further argues that the fact

that the court has retained jurisdiction over the spousal support award mitigates any injustice that

might arise if there is a change in Husband’s circumstances. 5

{¶9} In its decree, the trial court noted that one of the factors it had to consider in

determining whether to order spousal support was “income derived from property divided” by

the parties. R.C. 3105.18(C)(1)(a).

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2014 Ohio 3474, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/organ-v-organ-ohioctapp-2014.