Ward v. Ward

705 So. 2d 498, 1997 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 856, 1997 WL 660285
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedOctober 24, 1997
Docket2960237
StatusPublished

This text of 705 So. 2d 498 (Ward v. Ward) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ward v. Ward, 705 So. 2d 498, 1997 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 856, 1997 WL 660285 (Ala. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinions

YATES, Judge.

On March 17, 1994, the trial court divorced the parties, incorporating into the final divorce judgment an agreement between the parties. The agreement provided, in part:

“8. The parties have accumulated cattle, farm equipment, supplies, vehicles, and other miscellaneous farm/personal properties that are-used in the Husband’s farm operations in Henry County, Alabama. Other than the two pieces of real estate and residences situated thereon and described above, all of the real estate mentioned herein is used in the Husband’s business as a farmer and shall continue to be used as such after the divorce so long as the Husband continues to farm. As further periodic alimony, the Husband shall pay to the Wife one-half of all net profits derived from his farming business after deduction of $2,000,00 periodic alimony and $2,000.00 for his personal living expenses. Also, any liquidation of the aforementioned farm assets shall be considered in arriving at the net profits due the parties.”

Additionally, the agreement provided that the parties shall own as tenants-in-common certain land used in the husband’s farming operation.

On March 7, 1996, the wife petitioned the court to order the husband to provide her with an accounting of the farming profits for 1994 and 1995, and to hold him in contempt. She alleged that the husband had not paid her her share of the farming profits for those years, as required by the divorce agreement. Following an ore tenus proceeding, the court, on August 21, 1996, entered a judgment for the wife. The husband appeals, following the denial of his post-judgment motion.

The parties had operated a profitable farming business for approximately. 40 years. The dispute in question arose from the filing of the husband’s 1994 and 1995 tax returns. Jim Giganti,1 the wife’s tax return preparer, reviewed the husband’s 1994 and 1995 tax returns, canceled checks, bank statements, and accounting records. Giganti testified [500]*500that the husband had made certain “prepayments” in 1994 and 1995. Under the IRS rules, farmers are allowed to make a prepayment of expenses, whereby they may pay for expenses such as chemicals, seed, and fertilizer for the upcoming farming year, yet take a deduction for tax purposes in the particular year in which the prepayment is made. The effect of making a prepayment would be to increase the farm expenses in the year it was made, thereby reducing the net profit for that year. Giganti stated that the husband had made prepayments of $165,421 in 1994 and $123,880 in 1995. Giganti determined that these payments were prepayments, because the checks were written in the last few days of the tax year. Giganti, however, testified on cross-examination that it was possible that the payments made at the end of the tax years 1994 and 1995 were payments made to satisfy existing debts and were not prepayments. He stated that in order to be certain that the payments were prepayments, one would have to “look behind” the checks and examine the invoices, which, he said, he did not do.

The husband received $185,405 in crop insurance proceeds in 1995. Giganti testified that the IRS rules permit a farmer who receives crop insurance proceeds to elect to defer those proceeds to the following tax year. Giganti stated that a farmer who chooses to defer crop insurance proceeds to the following tax year must report the proceeds on his tax return in the year in which they were received and indicate in the appropriate area on the return that he wishes to defer to the following year. Giganti testified that the insurance proceeds received by the husband were not reported on the husband’s 1995 tax return and that there was no indication on the return that he had chosen to defer the proceeds to the following tax year. Giganti discovered that the husband had received the proceeds, because they were listed in the husband’s accounting records and on a profit-loss statement, which Giganti reviewed. Giganti stated that had the proceeds been reported in 1995 and not deferred to the following year, it would have increased the farm profits for 1995.

Sidney Walker, who has been the husband’s CPA and tax preparer for 25 years, testified that the IRS permits farmers to declare crop insurance proceeds in the year received or to elect to defer them to the following tax year. He stated that the failure to indicate in the appropriate area on the husband’s 1995 tax return that the husband was deferring the insurance proceeds to the following tax year was a clerical oversight. Walker testified that the insurance proceeds were listed on the husband’s financial statement and his profit-loss statement as deferred income to be declared in 1996. He further stated that the husband is not precluded from deferring the insurance proceeds to the following year because of the failure to indicate on the return his wish to do so. Giganti also stated that the failure to indicate a deferment on the return would not preclude the husband from deferring the proceeds, because he could amend the return or could write a letter to the IRS explaining that the failure to indicate a deferment on the return was inadvertent.

The husband testified that he made some prepayments in 1994, but made no prepayments in 1995. He stated that the payments made late in the year were not prepayments, but were instead payments to satisfy existing debts. He stated that he had borrowed approximately $200,000 from Production Credit Association in 1994 in order to satisfy his existing debts. He also stated that he had had a poor crop in 1995, thus the receipt of the crop insurance proceeds, and that he had had to borrow approximately $100,000 in order to satisfy his debts in 1995, because the insurance proceeds were insufficient to completely satisfy all of his debts for that year. Finally, the husband testified that the wife had never been involved in the business aspect of the farming operation, but that she had been aware for years that he has borrowed money in order to satisfy year-end debts, has made prepayments, and has made efforts to equalize or reduce his tax liability.

The court’s order states:

“After a review of the evidence, the Court finds that the prepayments that were made by the [husband] and taken as deductions on his tax returns, were legiti[501]*501mate, and were properly used by the [husband]. However, in future years, the [husband] should consult the [wife], since she is a co-owner of the property, as to whether these payments should be taken as deductions.
“The Court -finds that the [insurance] proceeds received by the [husband] should have been reported in the year received. Because the [insurance] proceeds were not properly reported, the [husband] owes the [wife] the amount of $70,508.50, as her share of net profits for the years 1994 and 1995. Said sum is to be paid by the [husband] within sixty (60) days.
“In the future, if [insurance] proceeds are to be deferred, a joint decision will be made by the parties.”

The husband contends that the court erred in modifying the divorce judgment to give the wife decision-making authority in the tax-planning aspects of the farming operation. We note that when a court is presented evidence ore tenus, its judgment will be presumed correct if supported by the evidence; that judgment, however, is subject to revision and review. Moody v. Moody, 641 So.2d 818 (Ala.Civ.App.1994)

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
705 So. 2d 498, 1997 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 856, 1997 WL 660285, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ward-v-ward-alacivapp-1997.