Stratman v. Stratman

948 S.W.2d 230, 1997 Mo. App. LEXIS 1201, 1997 WL 355218
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 30, 1997
DocketWD 51709
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 948 S.W.2d 230 (Stratman v. Stratman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stratman v. Stratman, 948 S.W.2d 230, 1997 Mo. App. LEXIS 1201, 1997 WL 355218 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

BRECKENRIDGE, Judge.

Harold B. Stratman (Husband) appeals from the trial court’s judgment dissolving his marriage to Judy M. Stratman (Wife). Husband contends that the trial court erred by: (1) including as marital property certain real estate acquired by Husband after the effective date of the parties’ dissolution; (2) using debts incurred by Wife after the effective date of the parties’ dissolution as an offset against Wife’s assets before equalizing the property division; (3) offsetting Wife’s attorney fees incurred in the parties’ original dissolution hearing; (4) awarding the value of certain personal property to Husband because that property was not wanted by Husband, two guns were nonmarital property, and one gun was a gift; (5) failing to include in the marital property division a certificate of deposit; and (6) not recognizing Husband’s nonmarital contribution of $26,762 to the value of the marital residence.

The judgment dividing the marital property is affirmed in part and reversed in part. Under Rule 84.14, this court enters the judgment which the trial court should have entered.

Husband and Wife were married on February 14,1977. The parties lived together in Freeburg, Missouri. Wife had three children from a previous marriage: Joseph Luebbert, James Luebbert, and Jennifer Luebbert. One child was born of the marriage on December 17, 1977, Harold B. Stratman, Jr. During the marriage, Husband owned and operated his own business as an electrician, while Wife cleaned houses, babysat, and assisted Husband with the bookkeeping aspects of his business.

On April 21, 1994, Wife filed her Petition for Dissolution of Marriage in the Circuit Court of Osage County. Husband admitted in his answer that the marriage was irretrievably broken and filed a Counter-Petition for Dissolution of Marriage. On August 3, 1994, the trial court heard the cause and entered its Decree of Dissolution purporting to dispose of the entire case. The court’s order dissolved the parties’ marriage and made further orders regarding child custody, support, and visitation, and the division of property and debts. The court did not award maintenance or attorney fees to either party.

Thereafter, Wife filed a motion for a new trial, alleging that the “division of marital and non-marital property [was] against the weight of the evidence and not supported by the evidence.” The division of property was the only portion of the decree challenged by Wife in her motion. Wife requested the trial court to set aside the division of property and reallocate the parties’ separate and marital *233 property. The trial court sustained Wife’s motion for a new trial with the division of property as the sole issue to be relitigated. The trial judge who presided over the initial hearing recused himself, a new judge was assigned, and venue was subsequently changed to Cole County.

On August 11,1995, nearly a year after the date of the initial decree of dissolution, the issue of the division of property was reheard in the Circuit Court of Cole County. The parties stipulated on the record at the beginning of the hearing that “the original dissolution has gone through with the exception of property division.” Husband and Wife offered evidence of marital and separate property, and each submitted a proposed division of the property.

On September 7, 1995, the trial court entered its Final Judgment Entry and Order. In this order, the trial court recognized that the parties’ marriage was dissolved as of August 3, 1994. It then entered orders dividing the parties’ property “based on its finding that each party should share as equally as possible in the marital property.” The judgment incorporated Wife’s Exhibit 1 by reference, which set forth her proposed division of property. The court modified the proposed property division in Wife’s Exhibit 1 to conform to the parties’ testimony and attached the modified exhibit to the judgment. The court found that this exhibit, as “supplemented and modified by other evidence, recapitulates [the parties’] assets and obligations with reasonable accuracy.”

The decree set off to Wife, as her separate nonmarital property, the parties’ residence which had been acquired by her prior to the marriage. Husband was awarded certain real property in Freeburg, Missouri, which he purchased in September, 1994, about a month after the initial decree of dissolution. Various items of personal property were divided between the parties according to Wife’s Exhibit 1, including several certificates of deposit jointly held by the parties and their children, life insurance policies, securities and other investments. The court included as marital property Husband’s “pre 8/3/94 unreported receivables” from his electrician business and the marital funds expended to clear title to Wife’s separate property. Husband filed a timely appeal to this court.

On appeal, this court affirms the trial court’s decree of dissolution if it is “supported by substantial evidence, is not against the weight of the evidence, and neither erroneously declares nor applies the law.” Hutcherson v. Hutcherson, 909 S.W.2d 403, 404 (Mo.App.1995). This court accepts the evidence and inferences therefrom most favorable to the trial court’s decree and disregards all contrary evidence. Id. The trial court has substantial discretion in dividing marital property and this court will not interfere unless the division is so heavily weighted in favor of one party as to amount to an abuse of discretion. Id, at 406.

In his first point, Husband claims that the trial court erred in including as marital property Husband’s real estate in Freeburg, Missouri, which was purchased after the date the court dissolved the marriage of the parties. Husband argues that property acquired after the decree of dissolution was entered is not marital property subject to division under § 452.330, RSMo 1994. 1 Husband claims that this erroneous inclusion of his separate property prejudiced him because the court ordered him to pay additional cash to Wife to equalize the property division.

In a proceeding for division of property, the trial court is required to make an equitable division of the parties’ marital property after considering all relevant factors. Section 452.330.1; Hernandez v. Hernandez, 872 S.W.2d 161, 166 (Mo.App.1994). Subsection three of § 452.330 provides that “[a]ll property acquired by either spouse subsequent to the marriage and prior to a decree of legal separation or dissolution of marriage is presumed to be marital property....” Section 452.330.3 creates the presumption that property aquired during the marriage is marital property. Hanson v. Hanson, 738 S.W.2d 429, 433 (Mo. banc 1987). “Conversely, property acquired prior to the marriage or after *234 the entry of decree of legal separation or dissolution is not marital property.” Id.

Here, the trial court dissolved Husband and Wife’s marriage on August 3, 1993. Thereafter, the trial court sustained Wife’s motion for a new trial on the sole issue of the division of property. Section 452.360 defines a final order in the dissolution context:

1.

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Bluebook (online)
948 S.W.2d 230, 1997 Mo. App. LEXIS 1201, 1997 WL 355218, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stratman-v-stratman-moctapp-1997.