Wright v. Wright

788 S.W.2d 350, 1990 Mo. App. LEXIS 650
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 26, 1990
DocketNo. 16317
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 788 S.W.2d 350 (Wright v. Wright) 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
Wright v. Wright, 788 S.W.2d 350, 1990 Mo. App. LEXIS 650 (Mo. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

HOGAN, Judge.

In this dissolution of marriage case, the question on appeal is whether the trial court’s division of marital property is so manifestly disproportionate as to constitute an abuse of discretion. Believing that the division of marital property is so disproportionate as to be manifestly inequitable and an abuse of discretion, we modify the trial court’s judgment and enter such judgment as that court should have entered. Rule 84.14.

Petitioner Jack A. Wright, to whom we shall refer as the plaintiff, was married to respondent Mary E. Wright, to whom we shall refer as the defendant, on August 22, 1954. When they were first married, they [351]*351lived in rented houses and “on different farms.” In 1964, the parties bought a 120-acre farm from the defendant’s parents for $12,000. They lived on this farm continuously from the time they purchased it until they finally separated in August or September of 1986. During the course of their marriage the parties became the parents of two children. One child is a female child born September 13, 1972, the other a male child born June 11, 1975. The defendant has been awarded custody of the children.

The parties lived frugally. The plaintiff testified that while he was operating the farm, “[w]e were poor.” The defendant testified that for a good many years, she made her own clothes. The household furnishings were those the parties had purchased when they were first married. The farm house is heated by a wood stove and has no running water. The house and the barn needed repair at trial time. According to the plaintiff, the farm made a profit “once in a while.”

In 1974, in order to supplement his income, the plaintiff became a rural letter carrier. At first plaintiff was a “relief carrier” and in 1980, he became a full-time employee of the United States Postal Service. Plaintiffs job requires him to collect and deliver the mail along a rural route. The plaintiff drives “[pjrobably a hundred miles a day.” Plaintiff's federal income tax return for the calendar year 1987 indicates he earned a little more than $34,000 in wages. Vouchers introduced as petitioner’s exhibits 7 and 8 indicate the plaintiff was paid twice a month and that his biweekly net earnings were $1,000 to $1,100. Defendant’s separate federal income tax return for the calendar year 1987 indicated the farm had a capital gain of $1,463.51, but when depreciation was factored in, the farm operation showed a net loss of $4,451.

Except for the parties’ estimates, we find little or no evidence of the value of the farm. The plaintiff testified that the farm was a 120-acre farm. There was a house on the farm, but the house was not particularly described. There was a barn and a chicken house on the farm, neither of which was described. According to the plaintiff, there were 66 tillable acres, 9 acres in timber and about 40 acres which could be used as pasture. Plaintiff further estimated that the tillable land could be rented for $1,320 per year; if the tillable land was let on shares, “you might make more.” The 80 acres of pasture, if rented, would graze about 20 to 25 head of cattle and would rent for $24 per head per 8-month year. No evidence of comparable sales was produced. So, and to reiterate, we have no evidence of the value of the farm before us except the parties’ estimates and plaintiff’s speculative evidence of the rental value of the farm.

As required by local rules, the parties filed a schedule and a proposed disposition of all marital and nonmarital property and liabilities. The plaintiff valued the farm at $48,000 and proposed that it be distributed “equally” to both parties. The defendant estimated that the farm was worth $40,330 and proposed that it be set off to her. Otherwise, the assets and the proposed distribution of those assets (the parties treated all their assets as marital assets) was as follows:

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This schedule, as we have just indicated, is the summary (and supplemental summary) of marital and nonmarital property which local rules of the 29th Judicial Circuit require parties to a dissolution action to file. The total value of the marital estate, as indicated by the schedule, is $93,-424 according to the plaintiffs estimate, including the plaintiffs estimate of the cash value of his United States Postal Service Retirement benefit, and the marital estate is subject to encumbrances in the amount of $13,400. The defendant’s estimate of the total value of the marital estate, which does not include plaintiffs retirement benefit, is $74,798, subject to the same encumbrances. The schedules, as we might more clearly demonstrate, are approximations; quite clearly, the marital estate was not appraised before the property schedule- was filed. Some of the values were adjusted during the trial.

The parties also estimated their monthly expenses for the court. Plaintiff estimated his monthly expenses to be $3,162, including $600 for “family support.” The defendant estimated her monthly expenses to be $1,025, plus a projected health insurance payment of $150 per month and a projected car payment in the amount of $300 per month.

During the course of the trial, as we have indicated, some of the property values were adjusted, and other pertinent facts were presented to the court. The plaintiff testified that he became a substitute rural mail carrier in 1974; in 1980, he became a full-time rural letter carrier. The defendant questioned the plaintiff about his activities, “over and over” again, believing that the plaintiff was guilty of infidelity. The plaintiff denied having sexual relations with any woman other than the defendant during the time he was living with her, but admitted that shortly after he was separated from the defendant, he had been intimate with another woman.

There was evidence that the defendant was 54 years of age at the time of trial. She was a high-school graduate but she had no college education or vocational training. Nevertheless the defendant insisted that she would be able to manage the farm if she received financial assistance from the plaintiff. The defendant believed she would need $300 per month as maintenance and $600 per month as child support. The defendant rejected the idea that she could “go out ... with a tractor [353]*353and grain farm,” but believed that she might “run cattle” and remain on the farm and have an income. The defendant wished to remain on the farm “[b]ecause it’s a way of life,” and she had never lived anywhere but on a farm. At the close of all the evidence, the trial court addressed the parties as follows:

“Mr. and Mrs. Wright, I’m unable to render you a decision today. I have discussed this with your counsel and I have discussed the reasons and let me repeat to you exactly what the reasons are. The property divisions that are suggested by Mrs. Wright are unrealistic under the law and the Court is not going to be able to follow them. The Court is extremely reluctant to be forced into the position of having to sell the farm out and order an immediate sale and remove the people from the premises ... but under the law, that’s about where we stand in order to arrive at an equitable distribution. I have suggested to counsel that I would delay a decision and that I would ask each of them to submit to me a week from Thursday, either your individual decree proposals or much more preferably a joint proposal of the division of property_”

Both parties submitted proposed decrees.

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Bluebook (online)
788 S.W.2d 350, 1990 Mo. App. LEXIS 650, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wright-v-wright-moctapp-1990.