Turner v. Turner

803 S.W.2d 655, 1991 Mo. App. LEXIS 208
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 6, 1991
DocketNo. 16600
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 803 S.W.2d 655 (Turner v. Turner) 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
Turner v. Turner, 803 S.W.2d 655, 1991 Mo. App. LEXIS 208 (Mo. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

MAUS, Presiding Judge.

On March 31, 1988, the marriage of 37 years of petitioner Mary Jo Turner (wife) and respondent Fredis E. Turner (husband), was terminated by a decree of dissolution. That decree found a separation agreement not to be unconscionable. It was incorporated into the decree. The marital property was distributed by that decree. On November 18, 1988, the wife filed in the dissolution action a motion to set aside the agreement and decree “on equitable grounds”. Specifically, the motion alleged “[t]hat this Court should invoke its equitable powers to set aside the Decree of Dissolution entered by the Court by reason of the misrepresentation of the Respondent as to value and to reopen the dissolution case ... as ... to the division of property, periodic maintenance and attorney fees.” The “misrepresentation of value” referred to the value of certain pension, retirement and stock benefits with husband’s employer. The wife also filed a separate action to divide as marital property the difference between $12,818.00, the value of those benefits she alleges was represented by the husband, and her alleged actual value of $148,265.00 for the pension retirement and stock benefits. The motion and the separate action were consolidated. After hearing, the trial court denied the wife relief.

[657]*657At the time of the dissolution, the wife was 58 years of age. The wife was employed as a realtor with Century 21 Beaumont. The wife was a graduate of Oklahoma State University, with a degree in business. She held a real estate broker’s license. She had, at diverse times, worked as a teacher, medical secretary, and realtor.

At the time of the dissolution, the husband was employed as a district sales manager with Ralston-Purina, Inc. The husband was 58 years of age. He had worked for Purina for 34 years. During his employment, he acquired employee benefits, including certain insurance coverages, a retirement plan, and a savings plan. In March of 1987, the savings plan held 261 shares of stock and had a cash balance of $426.39. Upon retirement at age 62 or thereafter, the husband would receive a pension of $1,525.00 per month.

At the time of the dissolution, the marital property consisted of motor vehicles, a home, the usual household goods and personal effects, a small bank account, other intangibles, and the employee benefits with Purina. The separation agreement confirmed the parties actual division of the household goods, personal effects and vehicles. By a separate paragraph, it provided the home would be the separate property of the wife. The remaining provisions concerning the division of marital property were:

“4. WIFE to receive all interest in Promissory Note executed by DENNIS and DONNA KENYON in the amount of $5,000.00 due and payable in 1987, her IRA account with principal balance of $5,000.00 and any and all bank accounts standing in her name.
5. HUSBAND to receive all pension, savings, stock and stock rights in Purina Mills and any and all bank accounts standing in his name.”

On March 31, 1988, the wife appeared with the counsel by whom she filed her petition for dissolution on May 11, 1987. The husband appeared by counsel. The wife testified. Her testimony established the formal prerequisites for the dissolution of marriage and her conclusion that the separation agreement was “fair and conscionable”. She asked that the agreement be approved by the court and incorporated into the decree of dissolution. That was done.

The wife’s sole point on appeal is “the trial court abused its discretion in not setting aside the separation agreement and decree of dissolution” for the reasons stated in the point. A judgment finding a separation agreement not unconscionable and distributing marital property in accordance with that agreement is a final judgment. “A court has no inherent authority to set aside its own final judgment.” State ex rel. Carver v. Whipple, 608 S.W.2d 410, 412 (Mo. banc 1980). The methods and grounds that had been available to set aside a final judgment have been categorized.

“As stated in Hub State Bank v. Wyatt, 589 S.W.2d 372 (Mo.App.1979), the court may not disturb its judgment after thirty days ‘other than as invested by statute or common law procedures.’ The statutory and common law procedures so referred to consist of an arsenal holding six weapons: (1) a separate suit in equity; (2) a statutory petition for review; (3) a nunc pro tunc order; (4) a motion in the nature of a writ of error coram nobis; (5) a motion showing fraud practiced on the court; and (6) a motion showing irregularity on the face of the record.” Kranz v. Centropolis Crusher, Inc., 630 S.W.2d 136, 138-139 (Mo.App.1982).

It was also recognized that

“[ejquity has jurisdiction to set aside a default judgment on the grounds of extrinsic fraud, accident or mistake. Human Development Corp., etc. v. Wefel, 527 S.W.2d 652, 656 (Mo.App.1975). Although a default judgment may be set aside for mistake, neglect chargeable against the defaulting party cuts off the grounds of mistake. Id.” Massa v. Anderson, 691 S.W.2d 496, 497 (Mo.App.1985). (Emphasis added.)

Also see Sprung v. Negwer Materials, Inc., 727 S.W.2d 883 (Mo. banc 1987). However, it was fundamental that a final [658]*658judgment would be set aside only for fraud extrinsic to the judgment.

“That relief requires pleading and proof of fraud in the procurement, that is to say, fraud extrinsic to the dissolution judgment. For such fraud to have existed, it must have related,
‘not to the propriety of the judgment itself, but to the manner in which the judgment was obtained. In other words, the fraud must have been extrinsic or collateral to the matters which either were or could have been presented and adjudicated in the original proceeding, and not merely intrinsic in the sense of having pertained to the merits of the cause upon which the judgment of the court was rendered.’ ” Karney v. Wohl, 785 S.W.2d 630, 633 (Mo.App.1990).

Also see In re Marriage of Harrison, 734 S.W.2d 934 (Mo.App.1987); Gehm v. Gehm, 707 S.W.2d 491 (Mo.App.1986).

A final judgment such as the one in question is an adjudication the separation agreement was not unconscionable. It should be noted that the test of unconscion-ability is not measured by the factors delineated in § 452.330. “[T]he property division was made by the parties’ agreement, and the trial court was bound by that agreement unless the agreement is unconscionable, § 452.325(2) — unconscionability being an inequality so strong, gross, and manifest that it must be impossible to state it to one with common sense without producing an exclamation at the inequality of it.” Peirick v. Peirick,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
803 S.W.2d 655, 1991 Mo. App. LEXIS 208, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/turner-v-turner-moctapp-1991.