DocketNumber: No. ED 105648
Citation Numbers: 553 S.W.3d 446
Judges: Richter
Filed Date: 8/7/2018
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 10/19/2024
Blanca Parciak ("Wife") appeals and Matthew Parciak ("Husband") cross-appeals from the trial court's judgment of dissolution ("Judgment"), inter alia , dissolving their marriage; awarding Wife non-modifiable maintenance, terminable upon the earliest of a listed event to occur; awarding the parties joint legal and physical custody of their two children; ordering Husband to pay child support; and dividing their property, assets and debt. We affirm in part and reverse and remand in part.
I. Background
Wife and Husband were married on November 8, 1997. They met in the country of Peru, where Wife was a lawyer. Wife entered the United States in 1998. They have two daughters born of the marriage in the years 2000 and 2004. During the marriage, the parties lived at the marital home in Wright City, valued at $350,000 with a mortgage of $63,000. The parties separated on March 15, 2015, and filed for divorce on January 6, 2016.
Husband is employed as a senior vice-president for product and consulting services at MasterCard. He receives compensation in the form of a base salary, a cash bonus, and stock options. The trial court's Form 14 assigned Husband a monthly gross income of $50,037.
Although Wife has a law degree from Peru, she has never practiced law. She cannot practice in the United States without attending law school and passing the bar exam. She previously worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After moving to Missouri, Wife earned a Master's Degree in Business Administration from Fontbonne University. Wife has only worked full-time for short periods during the 18-year marriage; she worked for a few months at MasterCard as an administrative assistant, but left when she accepted a job at Citibank where she worked in 2002 as a call center representative for a higher salary of $29,000 per year. Wife quit that job after three months as well. Wife has been the primary caretaker of the parties' children since their birth. Speaking English, Spanish, and some Portuguese, Wife occasionally worked part time as a translator during the parties' marriage, but she did not earn enough income to report it for taxes. Wife agrees she still possesses the necessary skills to work as a translator.
During the pendency of the case, Wife started working part-time by forming her own photography business, Blanca Parciak Photography, LLC, around 2015. The company *451limits itself to photographing horses and high school seniors. The business has not earned a profit and lost $14,126 in 2015. Wife testified that she was not able to do much income producing work during the first year due to her depression from the divorce and her focus on the children. The business was awarded to Wife in the division of property. Wife has post-divorce plans to spend the first year after the divorce trying to establish herself in the industry and, if she is unsuccessful after three years, she would seek additional employment. When questioned about the photography business, Wife initially stated she wasn't sure how profitable it could be. The trial court asked her how long she intended on pursuing the business before determining that it wasn't profitable and Wife answered, "So I would imagine three years, something like that. And then I would have to get another job if it doesn't work." When Wife was asked if she had given any thought to her backup career, she had not thought of anything else since she stated that making sure her children were emotionally stable and caring for the horses combined to make a full-time job. Wife's proposed Form 14 suggested that the court impute minimum wage to her for her gross monthly income, totaling $1,335 monthly.
At trial, Wife sought modifiable maintenance of $12,000 per month and an additional $3,000 per month for the taxes on the maintenance. Husband testified that Wife's reasonable expenses were approximately $7,917 per month. While the divorce was pending, Husband had his paycheck split so that half went to his checking and the other half went into Wife's checking account. Wife would pay the mortgage on the marital home, bills, and other expenses with these funds.
The trial court concluded that Wife lacked sufficient property and did not earn sufficient income to satisfy her reasonable needs, "although she has the education and ability to earn substantially more in the very near future." The court awarded Wife non-modifiable maintenance of $10,000 per month, commencing June 1, 2017, and terminable upon the earliest of the following to occur: the parties' youngest child's graduation from high school, Wife's sale of the Linneman Lane property, or the occurrence of a statutory provision. The parties were awarded joint legal and physical custody of their children and Husband was ordered to pay child support of $918 per month for two children and $519 per month for one child.
The trial court equally divided Husband's 401k savings plan, restricted MasterCard stock, and 2016 net cash bonus between the parties, totaling approximately $945,000 each. Each party received his or her own personal property. Each also was awarded three checking accounts and all credit card debts in their own names. Husband was awarded 100 percent of KAP Sport Horses, LLC, a $130,000-valued business entity which owned two horses primarily used by the parties' oldest daughter and incurs ongoing expenses of approximately $79,000 per year. He was awarded the 2004 Jeep Wrangler, 2012 Kia Optima, and the parties' tractor and four-wheeler. Wife was awarded the marital home and ordered to assume full liability for the mortgage. She also was awarded the 2012 Kia Sorento and 100 percent of her photography business, which was valued at $4,000-$5,000.
Wife requested that Husband pay her attorney's fees. Wife had paid her attorney $3,700 as of the date of trial, but her lawyer estimated her billable time to be $8,537. The trial court ordered both parties to pay their own attorney's fees.
This appeal follows.
*452II. Discussion
Wife raises two points on appeal. First, she alleges the trial court erred in effectively limiting the duration of her maintenance to five years because there is no evidence in the record of any substantial impending change in Wife's financial circumstances which will allow her to meet her reasonable needs without financial support from Husband.
Second, Wife alleges the trial court erred in ordering Wife to pay her own attorney's fees because the trial court abused its discretion in that it failed to consider the significant difference between the parties' incomes and their financial resources.
In response, Husband first argues that both of Wife's points should be dismissed pursuant to Rule 84.04, and then that the trial court did not err as a matter of law. Husband alleges on cross-appeal that the trial court erred as a matter of law in ordering Husband to quit claim his interest in the marital home to Wife while Husband remained liable on the $63,000 mortgage on the home with Wells Fargo Bank because Section 452.330, RSMo. 2000,
A. Standard of Review
This Court must sustain the trial court's judgment in a dissolution case "unless there is no substantial evidence to support it, unless it is against the weight of the evidence, unless it erroneously declares the law, or unless it erroneously applies the law." Murphy v. Carron,
B. Maintenance of limited duration and non-modifiable
Wife argues the trial court erred in limiting the duration of her maintenance to no more than five years because there is no evidence of any substantial impending change in her financial circumstances to allow her to meet her reasonable needs without financial support from Husband, that the maintenance-terminating conditions set out by the court are "wholly arbitrary," and that the court should enter a judgment ordering modifiable maintenance. Husband, however, argues that Wife's point does not comply with Rule 84.04(d). Husband contends that the point does not raise issues as to the court's decision to render the maintenance judgment nonmodifiable and thus, that issue is not before this Court. Although the issue of non-modifiable maintenance is not included in Wife's point relied on, we are permitted to make a plain error review of *453matters affecting substantial rights, which, although not properly preserved for appellate review, may have resulted in a manifest injustice or a miscarriage of justice. Rule 84.13(c); Sertoma Bldg. Corp. v. Johnson,
A trial court has broad discretion in determining the duration of maintenance, and we review that decision for abuse of discretion. In re Marriage of McMillian,
The trial court's judgment added the "non-modifiable" designation to the maintenance order, in accordance with Section 452.335. The statute provides, in pertinent part that the maintenance order:
shall state if it is modifiable or nonmodifiable. The court may order maintenance which includes a termination date. Unless the maintenance order which includes a termination date is nonmodifiable, the court may order the maintenance decreased, increased, terminated, extended, or otherwise modified based upon a substantial and continuing change of circumstances which occurred prior to the termination date of the original order.
As explained by the Southern District in In re Marriage of Lawry,
*454Sweet v. Sweet,
Wife argues there is no evidence in the record of an impending change in her financial circumstances that would allow her to meet her reasonable needs on her own. She urges this Court to reverse the trial court's judgment and award Wife with $10,000 per month in modifiable maintenance.
We find instructive our analysis in the case of In re Marriage of McMillian,
Where the evidence indicates that the dependent spouse's financial prospects will not improve materially in the future and that the means of the spouse providing maintenance are not likely to decrease substantially, the trial court abuses its discretion when it speculates that the original maintenance award will no longer be required in the future.
In re Marriage of Thomas,
Just as in McMillian, we find the trial court abused its discretion in limiting Wife's maintenance award to certain events without evidence that those events would allow Wife to support herself: the sale of the marital home or the high school graduation of her youngest child. See Underwood v. Underwood,
The trial court may give a spouse a reasonable time period in which to find employment, but there was no evidence in the record that Wife's financial needs will remain the same if Wife's photography business begins to gain success or if Wife finds other employment. When future events that may be pertinent to the issue of maintenance are uncertain, a maintenance award should be modifiable.
C. Attorney's Fees
In her second point, Wife argues the trial court abused its discretion in ordering Wife to pay her own attorney's fees because the trial court failed to consider the significant difference between the parties' incomes and their financial resources. Husband again claims Wife is in violation of Rule 84.04(d) in failing to set out, in her point relied on, the evidence with which would support an award of attorney's fees, which is required when an appellant is making a claim of insufficient evidence in a point relied on. We deny Husband's request to dismiss Wife's point.
A trial court has broad discretion in awarding attorney's fees; such an award is only reviewable for an abuse of discretion. In re Marriage of Lindeman,
"Missouri courts generally follow the 'American Rule,' which provides that each party should bear his or her own litigation expenses." Wansing v. Wansing,
Here, the trial court considered that Wife paid her attorney $3,700 before trial, had a balance due of $4,837.50, and had an additional three to four hours for the hearing. The trial court heard testimony that during the pendency of the case, Husband had been depositing half of his paychecks into Wife's bank account and the other half into his own account. Wife used that money to pay the bills for her home and one of the daughter's school tuition, while Husband paid the bills for his home and the other daughter's tuition. Wife argues only the disparity in the parties' incomes as her reason for the court's abuse of discretion. We find that Wife has failed to prove her entitlement to an award of attorney's fees based on the court's abuse of discretion standard. Point denied.
D. Husband's liability to bank for mortgage while Wife retains marital home
Finally, on cross-appeal, Husband alleges the trial court erred as a matter of law in ordering Husband to quit claim his interest in the marital home to Wife while Husband remained liable on the $63,000 mortgage on the home with Wells Fargo Bank because Section 452.330, requires the trial court to divide all marital debt while entering an equitable division of marital property. Husband argues the trial court failed to fully divide all marital debt, the judgment in its current form is inequitable in that Husband remains liable on the mortgage with the bank while being ordered to relinquish his security interest protecting the debt, and the judgment, in its current form, subjects Husband to the risk that Wife might default on the mortgage while retaining the only possessory real property interest and leading the creditor to Husband for the deficiency.
"The trial court has broad discretion in identifying, valuing, and dividing marital property." Alabach v. Alabach,
The trial court's judgment found that the parties own a tract of real estate with the marital home located in Wright City, valued at $350,000; the mortgage on the property is $63,000, thus having marital equity of $287,000. Wife testified that she would receive the property and be liable for the mortgage, and that she plans to sell it and move to another location. The trial court's judgment stated, "[Wife] shall be liable for the mortgage of approximately $63,000 with Wells Fargo on the marital home and hold [Husband] harmless. [Husband] shall execute and return to [Wife], within 10 days of receiving, a Quit Claim deed conveying his interest in the property to [Wife]. [Wife] shall be responsible for the preparation and recording of the Quit Claim deed."
"In Missouri, a conveyance of real property to a husband and wife as co-grantees is presumed to create a tenancy *457by the entirety if there are no limiting words in the operative clauses of the deed." Ronollo v. Jacobs,
"It has long been recognized that '[t]he divorce of tenants by the entirety destroys the tenancy and converts it into a tenancy in common.' " Ronollo,
Clearly, the trial court's judgment divesting Husband of the marital property in favor of Wife is sufficient, especially with an additional quit claim deed to convey the property to Wife. Whether the trial court was then required to order a change to the mortgage is the remaining issue to be determined in our analysis.
Section 452.330 requires a just and equitable division of marital property in light of the individual circumstances of the case. "We presume the correctness of the order prescribing the division." Vehlewald v. Vehlewald,
Wife cites Davis v. Davis,
Although we need not interfere with the trial court's judgment dividing the parties' marital property and debt, we note that as a practical matter, a court order to refinance the mortgage may present some potential problems. The mortgage lender likely is not interested in releasing the spouse with the large income from liability, and likewise, the spouse retaining the home but with much less (or even negative) income may not qualify to refinance the home even if she tried. Perhaps, if these problems are likely to occur, a sale of the home may be a necessary resolution.
III. Conclusion
We affirm in part and reverse and remand the case to the trial court with directions that the trial court enter the maintenance award as modifiable maintenance.
Lisa P. Page, P.J., concurs.
Philip M. Hess, J., concurs.
Unless otherwise indicated, all statutory references are to RSMo. 2000 as updated.
The sale of the family home would allow Wife to pay off the $63,000 mortgage and end monthly payments of $735.