Ronald H. Hellenbrand, Jr. v. Vicki Vogel Hellenbrand

CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedJune 22, 2023
Docket2022AP000979
StatusUnpublished

This text of Ronald H. Hellenbrand, Jr. v. Vicki Vogel Hellenbrand (Ronald H. Hellenbrand, Jr. v. Vicki Vogel Hellenbrand) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ronald H. Hellenbrand, Jr. v. Vicki Vogel Hellenbrand, (Wis. Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS DECISION NOTICE DATED AND FILED This opinion is subject to further editing. If published, the official version will appear in the bound volume of the Official Reports. June 22, 2023 A party may file with the Supreme Court a Samuel A. Christensen petition to review an adverse decision by the Clerk of Court of Appeals Court of Appeals. See WIS. STAT. § 808.10 and RULE 809.62.

Appeal No. 2022AP979 Cir. Ct. No. 2017FA1533

STATE OF WISCONSIN IN COURT OF APPEALS DISTRICT IV

IN RE THE MARRIAGE OF:

RONALD H. HELLENBRAND, JR.,

PETITIONER-APPELLANT,

V.

VICKI VOGEL HELLENBRAND,

RESPONDENT-RESPONDENT.

APPEAL from an order of the circuit court for Dane County: SARAH B. O’BRIEN, Judge. Reversed and cause remanded with directions.

Before Kloppenburg, Fitzpatrick, and Graham, JJ.

Per curiam opinions may not be cited in any court of this state as precedent

or authority, except for the limited purposes specified in WIS. STAT. RULE 809.23(3). No. 2022AP979

¶1 PER CURIAM. Ronald Hellenbrand, Jr. (“Ron”) appeals an order of the Dane County Circuit Court denying his motion requesting the court to order his ex-wife, Vicki Vogel Hellenbrand (“Vicki”), to resume Section 71 payments pursuant to the terms of their Partial Marital Settlement Agreement (“PMSA”).1 According to that agreement, Vicki’s obligation to make Section 71 payments ceases if Ron’s family’s farm is sold and Ron has “the right to receive at least $280,000 in funds from the sale.” When the farm was eventually sold, some of the funds from the sale were deposited in the Hellenbrand Family Trust (“the Family Trust”) of which Ron and his brother, Troy Hellenbrand (“Troy”), were cotrustees. Troy then distributed all those funds to their mother, and Ron petitioned a circuit court to void that distribution. Ron was offered $356,000 of those funds to settle the distribution dispute, but Ron declined to accept the offer.

¶2 Vicki then stopped making Section 71 payments to Ron, asserting that the settlement offer in the Family Trust litigation gave Ron the “right to receive” at least $280,000 in funds from the sale of the farm. The circuit court agreed and denied Ron’s motion to resume the Section 71 payments. On appeal, Ron argues that he had no “right” to receive the funds via the settlement offer because that offer was premised on Troy’s unauthorized distribution of the funds from the Family Trust. We agree and conclude that Troy’s distribution of the funds was unauthorized because Troy’s distribution to Judith was contrary to the terms of the Family Trust which permits such a distribution only as necessary for

1 Section 71 refers to a former section of the Internal Revenue Code relating to alimony and separate maintenance payments. See 26 U.S.C. § 71 (2012).

In addition, we refer to the parties and Ron’s family members by their first names because each shares a surname.

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Judith’s health, support, and maintenance.2 Therefore, we reverse and remand to the circuit court with directions to order Vicki to pay Section 71 payments due from August 18, 2021, as required by the PMSA, and for other relief consistent with this opinion.

BACKGROUND

¶3 There is no dispute as to the following material facts.

¶4 Ron and Vicki divorced in 2018 and entered into the PMSA which was approved by the circuit court. In the PMSA, Vicki agreed to make Section 71 payments to Ron for at least three years. Vicki further agreed that, after the three- year mark, she will continue to make these payments for another two years except in certain circumstances. As pertinent here, the PMSA provides that Vicki’s obligation to make these payments ceases if Ron has the right to receive at least $280,000 from the sale of the Hellenbrand family farm (“the Family Farm”):

If Vicki has not retired within the 3-year guaranteed payment period, she shall continue [Section 71 payments] for up to an additional 2 years as long as she is working. The Section 71 payments [will] cease at the earlier of the 2 years or … if all or a portion of the [Family Farm] is sold and Ron has the right to receive at least $280,000 in funds from the sale.

(Emphasis added.)

2 Ron also argues that Troy’s distribution of the funds to Judith was unauthorized because Troy unilaterally distributed the funds without the consent of Ron, the cotrustee. However, we need not address that issue because the issue we address is dispositive. See Barrows v. American Fam. Ins. Co., 2014 WI App 11, ¶9, 352 Wis. 2d 436, 842 N.W.2d 508 (2013) (“An appellate court need not address every issue raised by the parties when one issue is dispositive.”).

3 No. 2022AP979

¶5 At the time the PMSA was executed, the Family Farm was owned entirely by the Family Trust and Judith Hellenbrand (“Judith”), Ron and Troy’s mother. The Family Trust is a testamentary trust that was created through the will of Ron and Troy’s father, Ronald Hellenbrand, Sr. (“Ron Sr.”), and its terms are relevant to this appeal.

¶6 Assuming Judith survives and property is added to the Family Trust, Ron Sr.’s will directs that this property must be distributed as follows:

All the net income of this trust shall be distributed to [Judith] at convenient intervals but at least quarterly in each year, as long as she lives and regardless of whether she may remarry.

In addition, my trustee acting alone is authorized, in his discretion and at such times as he deems proper during the life [of Judith], to distribute to [Judith] such of the principal of this trust as such trustee deems necessary for the health, support and maintenance of [Judith], having in mind the standard of living to which she was accustomed at the time of my death.

(Paragraph numbering omitted.) Ron and Troy were designated by Ron Sr. in the will as cotrustees of the Family Trust. Under the terms the will, all of Ron Sr.’s property, including his interest in the Family Farm, passes to Judith. However, Ron Sr.’s will did not initially fund the Family Trust. Rather, Ron Sr.’s will authorizes Judith to “disclaim or renounce” any portion of the interest that passes to her, and if Judith decides to disclaim or renounce any interest, then that interest is added to the Family Trust.

¶7 Ron Sr. died in 2007. As a result, all his property, including his interest in the Family Farm, passed to Judith. However, as allowed by the terms of Ron Sr.’s will, Judith disclaimed a 17.88% interest in the Family Farm, and that

4 No. 2022AP979

interest was added to the Family Trust. At that time, the interest in the Family Farm was the sole asset in the Family Trust.

¶8 In March 2020, the Family Farm was sold. As a result, the Family Trust received 17.88% of the sale proceeds, which amounted to approximately $712,000. In December 2020, on the advice of his attorney but without Ron’s express consent, Troy transferred to Judith all of the funds in the Family Trust from the proceeds of the sale of the Family Farm.

¶9 In March 2021, Ron filed a petition in the Dane County Circuit Court naming himself, Troy, and Judith as interested persons. In the petition, Ron asserted that Troy lacked the authority to distribute the funds in the Family Trust and requested that the court enter an order voiding the previous distribution of funds Troy transferred to Judith.

¶10 In the spring of 2021, Judith offered to settle the dispute with Ron. Specifically, Judith offered to Ron half of the amount that she had received from the Family Trust (approximately $356,000) in exchange for Ron’s dismissal of the petition.3 Ron did not accept Judith’s offer. In September 2021, Ron, Troy, and Judith entered into a “nonjudicial settlement” pursuant to WIS.

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Ronald H. Hellenbrand, Jr. v. Vicki Vogel Hellenbrand, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ronald-h-hellenbrand-jr-v-vicki-vogel-hellenbrand-wisctapp-2023.