Filed Date: 6/23/2005
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 11/1/2024
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Louise Gruner Gans, J.), entered January 23, 2004, which, after a nonjury
The trial court properly found that while defendant was entitled to a share in the appreciation of her husband’s separate property business during the marriage (see Hartog v Hartog, 85 NY2d 36, 48-49 [1995]), owing to her own contributions thereto, she nonetheless failed to satisfy her burden of establishing “the baseline value of the business and the extent of its appreciation” (see Kurtz v Kurtz, 1 AD3d 214, 215 [2003]). The court also appropriately determined that the apartment in Croatia, which was, at the time of trial, occupied by defendant’s mother, was marital property, which “includes property acquired by either spouse during the marriage ‘regardless of the form in which title is held’ (Domestic Relations Law § 236 [B] [1] [c])” (Bartha v Bartha, 15 AD3d 111, 115 [2005]). Furthermore, the fact “[t]hat one of the spouses acquired title to property jointly with another relative would not necessarily interfere with its being considered marital, at least to the extent of the spouse’s established interest” (id.).
Defendant should, however, receive maintenance for a period of eight years, rather than three, so as to enable her to retain her predivorce standard of living until she is better able to support herself at the previous level (see Hartog, 85 NY2d at 50-52). We further modify to the extent voluntarily agreed upon by plaintiff in providing support to the parties’ daughter until she reaches 21 rather than 18, the age directed by the court.
We have considered defendant’s remaining arguments and find them unavailing. Concur—Buckley, EJ, Tom, Mazzarelli, Ellerin and Gonzalez, JJ.