Wright v. Wright

377 S.W.3d 369, 2010 Ark. App. 250, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 263
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedMarch 17, 2010
DocketNo. CA 09-156
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 377 S.W.3d 369 (Wright v. Wright) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wright v. Wright, 377 S.W.3d 369, 2010 Ark. App. 250, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 263 (Ark. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

LARRY D. VAUGHT, Chief Judge.

| Jeffrey Scott Wright appeals from a divorce decree and argues five points for reversal: 1) the trial court abused its discretion in calculating his income for the purposes of setting child support; 2) the trial court erred in setting the amount and duration of his child-support obligation; 3) the trial court erred in making an unequal distribution of marital property without proper explanation; 4) the trial court erred by treating the parties’ University of Arkansas football tickets as marital property; and 5) the trial court abused its discretion in awarding attorney’s fees and expert witness fees to appellee Amy Lynn Wright. We affirm in part and reverse and remand in part.

An initial complaint for divorce was filed on November 28, 2006. On January 7, 2008, appellee filed a complaint for separate maintenance. Appellant timely answered on May 14, 2008, Land filed a counterclaim for divorce (on the ground of eighteen-month, continuous separation). The parties were married on June 2, 1990. At that time, appellant was an employee of Sam’s Club. The parties relocated several times over the next few years before returning to Arkansas in 2002. In 2005, appellant began a new career as a co-owner of a car service, Pinnacle Car Service, Inc. (PCS). In addition to being employed by PCS, he later acquired 100% ownership in the company. The parties have three minor children — Jordan, Austin, and Alexandra — who (by agreement and order) were placed in appellee’s custody.1

A temporary hearing was held in the matter on January 24, 2008, after which appellant was ordered to pay appellee $4000 per month as temporary child support and spousal support. The court further ordered the sale of both the marital residence and residential lot. Appellee was ordered to seek employment and to contribute financially to the household expenses. After the residence was sold, appellant filed a petition to modify his support obligations. His argument was twofold. He claimed that appellee’s relocation to another, less expensive, home in the same subdivision and her lack of effort in finding employment (and failure to respond to discovery) justified a review of the parties’ relative financial positions. The trial court agreed and conducted a hearing in the matter on July 29, 2008. The trial court found that appellee had done little to secure meaningful employment and that her monthly living expenses could be reduced by $1400. Based on these findings the court reduced appellant’s temporary support obligations to $2600 per month.

laOn September 25, 2008, a two-day trial commenced. Appellant presented — by stipulation — a report prepared by his expert witness, Cheryl Shuffield, C.P.A., that found appellant’s company had no value. The report took into account the value and depreciation associated with the company’s assets. However, the report included a $19,505 downward adjustment to depreciation claimed by PCS in 2006 and 2007. This adjustment was made to account for the difference between “book depreciation” and “actual decline in value.” During trial, appellant testified that PCS’s performance during 2007 was the best indicator of its financial condition and urged the court to set his child-support and alimony obligations based on his net 2007 W-2 income of $34,928.75. Appellant admitted that he had taken unreported tips from working at PCS and that he had pledged a PCS asset as collateral for a piece of real property-purchased by his girlfriend. He also noted that his primary automobile was in the name of PCS.

In response, appellee presented the testimony of Jerry Jackson, an enrolled agent, who testified that depreciation should be ignored for the purposes of determining a person’s true “spendable” income. Following this model of income determination, Jackson prepared a mock 2007 federal tax return for appellant that showed appellant’s net income for 2007 was $104,464. On examination, Jackson admitted that he was not familiar with Administrative Order Number 10, and as such he was not aware of the order’s mandate relating to depreciation. There was also testimony from Connie French, a former employee of PCS, who claimed that appellant was in the habit of keeping and not reporting, not only his own cash tips, but also the tips of other drivers.

Appellee testified that she had worked in a few part-time jobs following appellant’s ^graduation from college, but she left the workforce when the parties began having children. She stated that she was now re-entering the workforce, approximately twelve years after having been last employed. Appellant and appellee offered near mirror testimony of the parties’ marital property and the property’s value. She disputed only the net worth of the parties’ household furnishings, arguing that they were not worth the $50,000 claimed by appellant, and the valuation of PCS provided by expert Shuffield.

The decree of divorce was entered on October 23, 2008. The trial court divided the parties’ marital property (which included setting aside the stock of PCS in exchange for one-half the value of PCS, which it determined to be not more than $16,100). The trial court also adopted Jackson’s method of calculating appellant’s income and set child support accordingly. Finally, the court ordered appellant to pay alimony in the amount of $1762.11 per month for eight years. This appeal followed.

For his first point on appeal, appellant argues that the trial court erred in its income calculation for purposes of setting child support. He claims that the court should have used only his 2007 tax return in calculating his income; the court should have considered his claimed depreciation in determining his net income; and the court erred in imputing income to him that was not reflected on his tax returns.

Our standard of review for an appeal from a child-support order is de novo, and we will not reverse a finding of fact by the circuit court unless it is clearly erroneous. Hardy v. Wilbourne, 370 Ark. 359, 259 S.W.3d 405 (2007). In reviewing a circuit court’s findings, we give due deference to that court’s superior position to determine the credibility of the witnesses and the |5weight to be accorded to their testimony. Id. at 364, 259 S.W.3d at 409. However, a circuit court’s conclusion of law is given no deference on appeal. Id., 259 S.W.3d at 409.

In determining an appropriate amount of child support, courts are to refer to the family support chart contained in our Administrative Order Number 10. Ark.Code Ann. § 9-12-312(a)(2) (Repl.2009). The family support chart provides a means of calculating child support based on the pay- or’s net income. Administrative Order Number 10 defines income as “any form of payment, periodic or otherwise, due to an individual, regardless of source, including wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, workers’ compensation, disability, payments pursuant to a pension or retirement program, and interest less proper deductions[.]” Administrative Order No. 10, (II). It is well established that this definition of income is broadly construed, intended to encompass the widest range of potential income sources. Davis v. Office of Child Support Enforcement, 341 Ark. 349, 20 S.W.3d 273 (2000); White v. White, 95 Ark.App. 274, 236 S.W.3d 540 (2006).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
377 S.W.3d 369, 2010 Ark. App. 250, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 263, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wright-v-wright-arkctapp-2010.