Wallace v. Wallace

714 N.E.2d 774, 1999 Ind. App. LEXIS 1384, 1999 WL 608683
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 13, 1999
Docket29A05-9806-CV-317
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 714 N.E.2d 774 (Wallace v. Wallace) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wallace v. Wallace, 714 N.E.2d 774, 1999 Ind. App. LEXIS 1384, 1999 WL 608683 (Ind. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinions

OPINION

FRIEDLANDER, Judge

Mila Jane Wallace appeals the trial court’s division of marital assets in her dissolution action against Chris G. Wallace. Mila presents the following restated issue for review:

Did the trial court err in awarding to Chris eighty-six percent of the marital estate?
We reverse and remand.

The facts underlying this appeal are not in dispute. It is the trial court’s legal conclusions relative to those undisputed facts that Mila challenges as erroneous. Accordingly, we reproduce in their entirety the trial court’s detailed and lengthy findings of fact.

32.Certain real and personal property was accumulated during the marriage which should be equitably divided by the Court. Husband, who has a Bachelor of Science degree from Purdue University in agriculture, has been the primary wage earner during the marriage. Wife, who is a high school graduate, worked for a couple of years after the parties married, but when she was laid off, the parties jointly decided that Wife would stay home. Wife maintained a garden, did the canning, took care of the house, cooking, laundry, etc., and when the parties decided to remodel the cabin, Wife consulted with the builder in order to oversee the work. Wife was also employed during harvest time at Wallace Grain, Inc. for one to three months, for not less than one (1) year and not more than three (3) years. Wife has worked in the home and has fulfilled the roles of Wife and Mother during the marriage. Husband was the financial source of all joint assets acquired during the marriage. Husband also worked consistently around the home, in particular the outside, and he has fulfilled the roles of Husband and Father during the marriage.
33. A significant portion of the marital estate consists of business interests, i.e., Wallace Farms, Inc., Wallace Grain, Inc., and United Feeds, Inc. stock, along with other publicly-traded stocks and tax-free bonds which were gifted to or inherited by Husband. The great majority of these gifts are multi-generational in nature, and some even began with Husband’s great-grandfather.
34. The marital residence (originally a log cabin) was found in southern Indiana by Husband’s grandfather who had the cabin taken apart, the pieces numbered so it could be reassembled, and moved to Sheridan, Indiana, in approximately 1945-1946, where it was reassembled on the forty (40) acres originally owned by Husband’s great-grandfather. One summer after that, Husband’s grandparents, Lisle and Margaret Ann Wallace, along with their son, Phil lived in the cabin. Over subsequent years, the cabin was used for political meetings of the Republican party. Husband moved into the cabin after he graduated from Purdue University, and prior to the marriage he added a bathroom to it. Wife shared the cabin with Husband for a couple of years prior to their marriage, and over the years a number of improvements were made to the cabin. The old screened-in porch was turned into a kitchen, and a new porch was added. A bedroom and bath were added next. Later, about 10-15 years ago, two (2) more bedrooms, another bath, and a two (2) car garage were added. All of the funds for these improvements came from either savings accounts or checking accounts. In 1993 Husband sold six hundred (600) shares of stock he had received as a gift from his grandfather in order to fund a swimming pool. Wife testified this was a [776]*776pool she wanted, and Husband did not. The last improvement to the cabin was approximately three (3) years ago when the deck was closed in with funds from the checking account. The parties agreed that the appraised value of the residence now is $169,500.00, but because Husband owns only fifty percent (50%) of Wallace Farms, Inc. and further because Wallace Farms, Inc. owns the residence, only one-half © the value should be attributable to the marital estate.
35. Wallace Farms, Inc. was begun by Husband’s great-grandfather, Odie Wallace, who actively owned and farmed the land and was in the grain business. The land was passed down to his son, Lisle Wallace, and then to Lisle’s son, Phil Wallace. In the 1960s Lisle and Phil bought land to add to Wallace Farms, Inc., and they continued to do so over the years. Wallace Farms, Inc. also contains land which Husband’s mother inherited from her family. From the time the Wallace family started buying land, they have never sold any land, except to convert it to other assets which have remained solely in the Wallace family and then pass it down to the next generation. When Wallace Farms, Inc. made money, the funds were used to purchase additional land. No one — Great-Grandfather, Grandfather, Father, nor Husband or his brother — has at any time in the existence of Wallace Farms, Inc., withdrawn any monies or anything of value. By the early 1990s Lisle and Phil had divested themselves of all the shares in Wallace Farms, Inc., by gift to Craig and Chris Wallace, who are now each fifty percent (50%) owners. Husband’s brother Craig runs Wallace Farms, Inc., but neither takes any salary from the Corporation.
36. In the 1970s Wallace Farms, Inc. purchased the Wiles family farm, which consisted of approximately forty (40) acres near what is now Marion-Adams High School. They later sold that land to Marion-Adams High School, and the Corporation used the money to purchase a condominium in Florida which is still owned by the Corporation.
37. Wallace Grain, Inc., a grain and feed business, was started in 1935 by Husband’s grandfather, Lisle Wallace, and was incorporated in about 1953 or 1954. Lisle’s father Odie, prior to his death, told Lisle to buy the grain elevator. Husband owns approximately 36% of the shares of this Corporation; his brother Craig owns sixty percent (60%); and his father Phil owns approximately four percent (4%). Both Craig and Chris received their stock from their grandfather Lisle and from their parents, Phil and Marianna. Craig runs Wallace Grain, Inc., but if a major project was contemplated, Craig testified that not only would he consult with both Husband herein and their father before taking any action, he would not proceed if his father Phil was opposed.
38. Phil and Lisle consulted with John Swisher, the present majority owner of United Feeds, Inc., a livestock feed manufacturer located in Sheridan, Indiana, and encouraged him to start the business and helped him financially. They sold • him three (3) acres from Odie’s original forty (40) acres and the grain plant. Husband, Father, and Brother shared equally in the proceeds from the sale which consisted of United Feeds, Inc. stock and some cash paid over several years. Husband now works for United Feeds, Inc. and participates in their stock ownership program. In addition to the stock Husband received as a result of the sale of the plant and acreage to United Feeds, he has also purchased more shares and received dividends on both the purchased shares as well as the gifted shares.
39. Husband owns tax-free bonds given to him by his parents over a number of years as a tax planning vehicle. Although the face value of the bonds is $160,000.00, the actual value as of the date of filing was $100,631.51.
40. From the time Husband was a child, he received various shares of stocks. When he was a small boy, his grandfather gave him stock in American State Bank, which was later bought out by Summit [777]

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Wallace v. Wallace
714 N.E.2d 774 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1999)

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Bluebook (online)
714 N.E.2d 774, 1999 Ind. App. LEXIS 1384, 1999 WL 608683, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wallace-v-wallace-indctapp-1999.