Watters v. Watters

959 S.W.2d 585, 1997 Tenn. App. LEXIS 441, 1997 WL 346225
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJune 24, 1997
Docket02A01-9511-CH-00254
StatusPublished
Cited by129 cases

This text of 959 S.W.2d 585 (Watters v. Watters) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Watters v. Watters, 959 S.W.2d 585, 1997 Tenn. App. LEXIS 441, 1997 WL 346225 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

FARMER, Judge.

This case concerns the dissolution of the fourteen year marriage of William G. Wat-ters (Husband) and Diane Slawson Watters (Wife). Husband has appealed from the final decree alleging error in the trial court’s classification and division of the marital estate, award of alimony and calculation of child support and in certain evidentiary rulings. For reasons hereinafter stated, we affirm as modified.

The parties were married in July 1980. At the time of trial, Husband was 44 and Wife 47. One child was born of the marriage, a son, Stephen Matthew, age 13 at the time of trial. Wife has two adult children from a prior marriage. During the marriage, Wife was primarily a homemaker and student. She discontinued her studies after their son was born and until he began school full-time. She earned a master’s degree in psychology in May 1993. She is currently enrolled at the University of Memphis pursuing her doctorate in counseling education and expects to graduate in August 1998. Husband has been employed at General Mills for 23 years. He currently earns a net base salary of approximately $4,890 per month plus an annual bonus. Wife has a family history of breast cancer and has undergone a double mastectomy. Husband is in good health. The parties separated in February 1993.

The trial court awarded the divorce to Wife on stipulated grounds of inappropriate marital conduct. Additionally, the court awarded the marital residence, which it valued at $157,393, to Wife and its accompanying indebtedness of $97,245; held that the parties had previously divided the marital personalty; gave Wife her separate property totaling $12,990 and Husband his separate property totaling $3,915; awarded marital property to Wife totaling approximately $326,000 to include the marital residence, the General Mills Voluntary Investment Plan in Husband’s name (401K) in the amount of $185,543 and the proceeds less capital gains tax from the exercise of certain General Mills stock options in the amount of $47,960; awarded Husband marital property totaling approximately $247,000 to include certain General Mills’ stock options ($75,593) and *588 restricted stock options ($15,995) and his pension benefit with a present value of $139,-423; ordered Wife responsible for marital debt in the amount of $13,346 and Husband responsible in the amount of $12,545; awarded custody of the minor child to Wife; ordered Husband to pay $1,027 per month in child support plus 21% of his annual bonus, less appropriate deductions for income taxes and social security, and all private school tuition and expenses; 1 ordered Husband to maintain medical insurance on Wife and child and be responsible for 50% of the uncovered medical expenses; ordered Husband to pay Wife $1,900 per month in alimony for seven years or until her death or remarriage; ordered Husband to pay Wife’s attorney’s fees in the amount of $38,798.66; and ordered Husband to maintain a $200,000 insurance policy on his life with Wife as beneficiary for five years with the amount of coverage to then drop $20,000 per year for two years. 2

Husband identifies the issues for review as follows:

1. Whether the trial court erred in its evaluation, classification and inclusion of the marital property.
2. Whether the trial court erred in the division of the marital estate.
3. Whether the trial court erred in its awards of alimony to Wife.
4. Whether the trial court erred in admitting Pickler’s testimony regarding Wife’s accumulation of funds for child’s college education and Wife’s testimony regarding college education of the son under the guise of lifestyle of the parties.
5. Whether the trial court erred in refusing to admit a settlement proposal when the court relied on the refusal to respond to said proposal in awarding attorney fees.
6. Whether the trial court erred in ordering disclosure of working notes of an expert and erred in allowing the introduction of those documents into evidence.
7. Whether the trail court erred in allowing the introduction of Wife’s “[time line]” of Husband’s misconduct when grounds had been stipulated.
8. Whether the trial court erred in ordering the formula to be used in determining the social security deduction for child support as to Husband’s bonus.

Our review of this case is pursuant to Rule 13(d) T.R.A.P., which provides for a de novo review upon the record of the trial court’s findings of fact, accompanied by a presumption of correctness, unless the evidence preponderates otherwise. As our divorce statutes address only the division of “marital” property, it is incumbent upon the trial court to first classify the parties’ property as either separate or marital before making an equitable division of the marital estate. Wade v. Wade, 897 S.W.2d 702, 713 (Tenn.App.1994); Batson v. Batson, 769 S.W.2d 849, 856 (Tenn.App.1988). Thus, we begin with consideration of Husband’s first issue pertaining to the trial court’s classification and evaluation of the couple’s property.

Husband asserts that the trial court’s valuation of the marital residence results in an award of additional equity to Wife which was not included within the marital estate. From the record, it is clear that numerous testimonies were extended regarding the value of the marital home ranging from approximately $143,000 to $175,000. Husband submits that eight opinions regarding value were proffered with the trial court “arbitrarily” taking five and averaging them to arrive at a value. The record indicates that Wife’s Rule 15 affidavit states a value of $144,800. At trial, her testimony established a value of $143,000 or “a little bit more.” Husband valued the home in his affidavit at $167,000 and $175,000 at trial. Don Ralph, a real estate appraiser, valued the home as of December 7,1994 at $167,000. Ralph also testified regarding the square footage of five comparable sales. Wife submitted an exhibit *589 averaging the square footage comparables to arrive at a value for the marital residence of $155,365. The final decree indicates that the trial judge attributed a value by Husband of $175,000 and $144,800 by Wife. He then took those two figures, Ralph’s value of $167,000, the Shelby County Assessor’s value of $144,-800 and the average of comparables ($155,-365) and averaged them to arrive at a value of $157,393.

Husband contends that the method utilized by the trial court failed to consider all of the evidence presented and that the home is properly valued based on the testimony of Ralph whose appraisal was conducted nearer in time to the final divorce hearing date. Husband cites Koch v. Koch, 874 S.W.2d 571 (Tenn.App.1993), for the proposition that “[mjarital property is to be evaluated ‘as of a date as near as reasonably possible to the final divorce hearing date.’ ” Koch, 874 S.W.2d at 576 (quoting T.C.A.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
959 S.W.2d 585, 1997 Tenn. App. LEXIS 441, 1997 WL 346225, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/watters-v-watters-tennctapp-1997.