Yelverton v. Yelverton

961 So. 2d 19, 2007 WL 2128373
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 26, 2007
Docket2004-CT-01684-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by52 cases

This text of 961 So. 2d 19 (Yelverton v. Yelverton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Yelverton v. Yelverton, 961 So. 2d 19, 2007 WL 2128373 (Mich. 2007).

Opinion

961 So.2d 19 (2007)

James B. YELVERTON
v.
Rhonda H. YELVERTON.

No. 2004-CT-01684-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

July 26, 2007.

*20 Michael J. Malouf, Melissa A. Malouf, Jackson, attorneys for appellant.

Damon Scott Gibson, attorney for appellee.

EN BANC.

CARLSON, Justice, for the Court.

¶ 1. The Chancery Court for the First Judicial District of Harrison County entered a final judgment granting Rhonda H. Yelverton (Rhonda) a divorce from James B. Yelverton[1] and ordering James to pay Rhonda lump sum alimony in the amount of $250,000 (with minimum monthly payments of $5,000); child support in the amount of $2,500 per month; periodic alimony in the amount of $2,500 per month; twenty-five percent of James's annual adjusted gross income above $150,000; and $10,000 in attorney's fees. James appealed to us, assigning five issues, and Rhonda *21 cross-appealed, assigning one issue. We assigned this case to the Court of Appeals, which affirmed the chancery court's judgment in toto on both direct appeal and cross-appeal. We granted James's petition for writ of certiorari, and upon careful consideration of the record and the applicable law, we find that the judgment of the Court of Appeals must be reversed and this case remanded to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS IN THE TRIAL COURT

¶ 2. The Court of Appeals meticulously set out the relevant facts of this case, which we thus present here verbatim:

James and Rhonda were married on September 7, 1988, and have three children. At the time of the filing of the divorce in February of 2002, Jason was nineteen,[[2]] Blake was eleven and Elizabeth was ten. The Yelvertons lived in Hattiesburg, Mississippi[,] and Lafayette, Louisiana, prior to moving to Gulfport, Mississippi[,] in 1992. James was a car salesman, and Rhonda was a registered nurse. James took a job as the manager of Turan Foley Mitsubishi, which he and Rhonda later purchased in 1996 for $488,000. Turan Foley Mitsibushi then became Jim Yelverton Imports. In 2001, James sold fifty-two percent of the business to Ed Wettach for $654,825.93. The two executed a memorandum of agreement, that was introduced into evidence, and explained that James retained forty-eight percent of the business and his silent partner, Wettach, held the remaining fifty-two percent. This sale became complete in January 2001.
Since the time Elizabeth was born in January of 1992, Rhonda did not work. She began working as a nurse part-time in April of 2002. In December 2002, James and Rhonda purchased a residence referred to as the Magnolia property as an investment. James and Rhonda separated on January 25, 2002, and Rhonda filed for divorce on February 18, 2002, on the ground of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment.[[3]] After the separation, James resided at the Magnolia property, and Rhonda resided in the marital home with the children. On March 13, 2003, the chancellor entered a temporary order awarding the parties joint legal custody of the children and Rhonda having sole physical custody and James having visitation. The chancellor further ordered James to pay child support in the amount of $4,000 per month and temporary alimony. Rhonda was awarded use of the marital home and was responsible for the house note. At the time, the chancellor appointed James Koerber to assess the worth of Jim Yelverton Imports.
After the entry of this temporary order, James filed a motion for modification listing debts which he had not previously mentioned. However, James violated the temporary order, because he failed to pay both the court ordered child support and alimony. Rhonda filed complaints for contempt against James for his failure *22 to pay both child support and alimony. A hearing was held on the contempt matters on October 15, 2003. At that hearing, evidence was shown that James had only paid Rhonda $11,286.90, when he had owed her over $50,000 in child support and alimony. The chancellor reserved the contempt issue for trial. The trial took place on November 17, 2003, and January 20, 21, 23, and 26, 2004, in the Chancery Court of the First Judicial District of Harrison County. Both James and Rhonda Yelverton testified along with other witnesses, including James Koerber, who was appointed by the court to evaluate the worth of Jim Yelverton Imports, and Ed Wettach, James's silent partner. Koerber reviewed the business documents of Jim Yelverton Imports and rendered his opinion that James'[s] forty[-eight] percent interest was worth $490,974 after appropriate discounts. James along with the company accountant, Ed Joe, argued that James and Wettach orally agreed that should the stock of the corporation be sold, Wettach would receive $612,288 (his investment in the company) first and then the two would split the remaining proceeds. Koerber dismissed this agreement since there was no documentation created when this transaction occurred in January of 2001, and it was not until August 2003, after the divorce complaint was filed, that this agreement was put into writing. The parties then agreed that the determination of the value of James's forty eight percent of the company should be left to the court.
The parties' joint tax returns were admitted into evidence to prove the couple's income. In 2001[,] the parties['] total income was $436,742 and in 2002 their income was $873,408 even though Rhonda only began working again parttime in August 2002. After reviewing these tax returns and hearing testimony regarding the loan issue stated above from Wettach to Jim Yelverton Imports, the chancellor found the value of James's forty-eight percent to be $490,974.
The chancellor rendered his findings of fact and conclusion of law on April 13, 2004, and entered his judgment on April 29, 2004. The court granted Rhonda a divorce on the grounds of cruel and inhuman treatment, awarded Rhonda primary custody and control of the minor children, and awarded James visitation after he and the children successfully completed counseling. The court also ordered James to pay child support in the amount of $2,500 per month and to provide medical and dental insurance for the minor children and for the parties to divide non-covered expenses. James was also ordered to pay college expenses for all three children. The court ordered the marital home and the Magnolia property to be sold and the proceeds divided after paying off the mortgage and loans.
The court awarded James ownership of Jim Yelverton Imports, but he was ordered to pay Rhonda $250,000 in lump sum alimony to be paid in minimum installments of $5,000 per month. The parties were ordered to each be responsible for their own personal debt, and Rhonda was awarded $2,500 per month in periodic alimony along with twenty-five percent of James'[s] income over and above the annual adjusted amount of $150,000. Rhonda was also awarded the automobile that she was driving.
The court found James in contempt for his failure to pay ordered child support and spousal support and awarded Rhonda a judgment in the amount of $40,771.83, which was to be paid within sixty days. Lastly, James was ordered *23 to pay Rhonda's attorney's fees in the amount of $10,000 and court costs.
James filed a motion to reconsider on May 10, 2004. Rhonda filed another contempt action on June 3, 2004. On July 1, 2004, the court heard both the motion to reconsider and the contempt action.

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Bluebook (online)
961 So. 2d 19, 2007 WL 2128373, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yelverton-v-yelverton-miss-2007.