Stuck v. Stuck

625 S.E.2d 367, 218 W. Va. 605
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 5, 2005
Docket32727
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 625 S.E.2d 367 (Stuck v. Stuck) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stuck v. Stuck, 625 S.E.2d 367, 218 W. Va. 605 (W. Va. 2005).

Opinions

PER CURIAM:

This case is before this Court upon appeal of -a final order of the Circuit Court of Kana-wha County entered on January 31, 2005. In that order, the circuit court refused to consider an appeal of an order of the Family Court of Kanawha County filed by the appellant and respondent below, William Jack Stuck (hereinafter “Mr. Stuck”), which granted him a divorce from the appellee and petitioner below Anna Jean Duncan Stuck (hereinafter “Ms. Duncan”1). In addition to [607]*607granting the parties a divorce, the family court order contained a finding that the parcel of real estate where the parties resided during their marriage was marital property and, therefore, subject to equitable distribution. In this appeal, Mr. Stuck contends that the residential real estate was not marital property since he owned it prior to the marriage, and thus, he seeks a reversal of that portion of the order which granted Ms. Duncan a one-half interest in the property.

This Court has before it the petition for appeal, the entire record, and the briefs and argument of counsel. For the reasons set forth below, the final order is reversed, and this ease is remanded to the circuit court with directions to enter an order remanding the case to the family court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I.

FACTS

Mr. Stuck and Ms. Duncan were married on August 19, 2000. At the time of their marriage, Mr. Stuck, a widower, was 78 year's old, and Ms. Duncan, a widow, was 70 years old. Both had children from then-previous marriages. The day prior to their marriage, the par-ties executed two prenuptial agreements. Each party’s attorney prepared an agreement and both agreements were signed.

After six months of marriage, Mr. Stuck conveyed by deed his premarital residence into the names of both parties as joint tenants with the right of survivorship.2 The parties had lived at this residence since they were married. On April 1, 2003, the parties separated. Shortly thereafter, Ms. Duncan filed for divorce. The primary issue raised during the divorce proceedings concerned the ownership of the property where the parties resided during their marriage and which was owned prior to the marriage by Mr. Stuck.

On August 4, 2004, a hearing was held in the Family Court of Kanawha County, and the parties presented evidence with regard to the disposition of the subject property. On November 17, 2004, the family court entered an order with the following findings of fact and conclusions of law:

There were two prenuptial agreements prepared prior to the marriage but the transfer of the residence and the automobile3 were some time after the marriage and the Court finds that as to these two items the prenuptial agreements have no effect as both agreements contemplate owning and transferring property after the marriage.
The Court does find that the residential real estate is owned by the parties as joint tenants. The court orders that the surviv-orship relationship be terminated effective with this order. The respondent and petitioner are ordered to effectuate a new deed or deeds in conformity with this order.

(Footnote added).

Subsequently, Mr. Stuck filed an appeal with the circuit court. On January 31, 2005, the circuit court refused the petition for appeal. Mr. Stuck then filed an appeal with this Court.

II.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Recently, in Carr v. Hancock, 216 W.Va. 474, 476, 607 S.E.2d 803, 805 (2004), we explained that,

This Court’s standard of review for an appeal from a circuit court that reviewed a family court’s final order, or refused to consider a petition for appeal to review a family court’s final order, is the same. In reviewing a final order entered by a circuit court judge upon a review of, or upon a [608]*608refusal to review, a final order of a family court judge, we review the findings of fact made by the family court judge under the clearly erroneous standard, and the application of law to the facts under an abuse of discretion standard. We review questions of law de novo.

See W.Va.Code § 51-2A-15(b) (2001). With these standards in mind, we now consider the issues presented in this case.

III.

DISCUSSION

Mr. Stuck first asserts that the circuit court erred by finding that his separate property became marital property when he executed a deed placing the real estate in both his and Ms. Duncan’s names as joint tenants with the right of survivorship. Mr. Stuck maintains that in executing the deed he did not intend to make the pi’operty a gift to the marital estate. Rather, the deed was only intended as a probate instrument in the event that he died while married to Ms. Duncan. He wanted her to have a place to live if he passed away first, and he believed Ms. Duncan would provide that upon her death, the property would be inherited by his daughters. Mr. Stuck says that given the existence of the prenuptial agreements, it is clear that he did not intend for the property to be part of the marital estate.

In Syllabus Point 4 of the seminal case of Whiting v. Whiting, 183 W.Va. 451, 396 S.E.2d 413 (1990), this Court held that:

Where, during the course of the marriage, one spouse transfers title to his or her separate property into the joint names of both spouses, a presumption that the transferring spouse intended to make a gift of the property to the marital estate is consistent with the principles underlying our equitable distribution statute.

We stressed in Whiting, however, that “the joint titling of the separate property gives rise only to a rebuttable presumption of gift to the marital estate.” 183 W.Va. at 459, 396 S.E.2d at 421. We further noted that, “The presumption may be overcome by a showing that the transferring spouse did not intend to transfer the property to joint ownership or was induced to do so by fraud, coercion, duress, or deception.” Id. (Footnote omitted).

In Burnside v. Burnside, 194 W.Va. 263, 270, 460 S.E.2d 264, 271 (1995), this Court expanded upon Whiting by providing an extensive analysis regarding the type of evidence that is sufficient to rebut the presumption. In Burnside, this Court was asked to determine whether the family law master4 and circuit court erred by finding that Mrs. Burnside had made a contribution to the marital estate when she used separate funds she had inherited to payoff the parties’ mortgage on the marital home. This Court concluded that while both the family law master and circuit court had made a finding that Mrs. Burnside did not prove she was under “coercion, duress, or deception” when she paid off the mortgage, they failed to make a specific finding regarding Mrs. Burnside’s “intent” to make a gift. Accordingly, the case was remanded for further consideration of the intent aspect of the presumption with guidance as to what type of evidence would be sufficient to rebut the presumption that a gift had been made to the martial estate.

In the case szib judice,

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Stuck v. Stuck
625 S.E.2d 367 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 2005)

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Bluebook (online)
625 S.E.2d 367, 218 W. Va. 605, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stuck-v-stuck-wva-2005.