Casella v. Alden
| Decision Date | 15 September 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. COA08-1316.,COA08-1316. |
| Citation | 682 S.E.2d 455 |
| Parties | Shirley A. CASELLA, Plaintiff, v. Richard J. ALDEN, Executor of the Estate of Ross R. Casella, Deceased, Defendant. |
| Court | North Carolina Court of Appeals |
Decedent Ross R. Casella and plaintiff Shirley A. Casella were separated when Mr. Casella was diagnosed with untreatable cancer. Subsequently, both Mr. Casella and Ms. Casella sought equitable distribution of their property and a divorce. Prior to any hearing on those issues or any agreement by the spouses, Ms. Casella joined Mr. Casella in his home, where approximately three weeks later Mr. Casella passed away. Defendant Richard J. Alden, the executor of Mr. Casella's estate, appeals from the trial court's judgment that dismissed defendant's equitable distribution claim against Ms. Casella on the grounds that the spouses had reconciled prior to Mr. Casella's death. Because we agree with the trial court that the record contains undisputed objective evidence of reconciliation, we affirm.
The trial court found the following facts, almost all of which are unchallenged on appeal. The Casellas married on 1 May 1954 and separated on 28 November 2004. They had two children, Rosalyn and John. Prior to their separation, the Casellas were living in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in a home that they held as tenants by the entirety. After their separation, Mr. Casella moved to New Philadelphia, Ohio, where he resided until his death. Ms. Casella continued to live in their Chapel Hill home after the separation. Mr. Casella visited Ms. Casella in North Carolina approximately eight times in 2005. They would spend time together, including going out to dinner, but Mr. Casella would spend the night in a hotel. Although the timing is unclear, at some point during the separation, Mr. Casella developed a relationship with Carole Eberle, whom he visited in Florida.
In the spring and summer of 2005, Mr. Casella and Ms. Casella divided their joint investment accounts, with each receiving approximately half of the investments. They also equally divided their IRA accounts. The two, however, maintained a joint checking account that they supplemented from their separate accounts for maintaining property they owned together in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Florida, as well as paying the premiums for a supplemental health care insurance policy for both Mr. Casella and Ms. Casella.
At the time of their separation, the spouses each retained an attorney to draft separation and property settlement agreements. Although proposed agreements were exchanged, Mr. Casella and Ms. Casella ultimately never entered into an agreement. On 20 January 2006, Ms. Casella filed a complaint for divorce and equitable distribution. Mr. Casella filed an answer on 2 March 2006, joining in the request for a divorce and seeking distribution of the marital and divisible property not already divided by agreement.
Mr. Casella was ultimately diagnosed with untreatable cancer and was admitted to the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio in March 2006. He stayed there for several weeks. While in the hospital, Mr. Casella granted a general power of attorney to defendant Richard Alden, his nephew. Ms. Casella traveled to the clinic, stayed in a nearby hotel, and visited Mr. Casella on a daily basis. Ms. Eberle also traveled to Ohio to visit Mr. Casella in the hospital.
Mr. Casella was discharged from the clinic in mid-March and returned to his home in New Philadelphia. Shortly before the discharge, Ms. Casella returned to Chapel Hill. Ms. Eberle initially accompanied Mr. Casella to his home in New Philadelphia, but returned to Florida in late March. On 30 March 2006, Charles D. Harris, a vice president with PNC Bank, visited Mr. Casella at his home to review Mr. Casella's investment accounts and the status of his will. Mr. Harris asked Mr. Casella whether he wanted to change the beneficiary designation on his IRA account, which still listed Ms. Casella as the primary beneficiary. Mr. Casella never changed the beneficiary designation.
After learning that Ms. Eberle had left New Philadelphia, Ms. Casella drove from North Carolina to Ohio to be with Mr. Casella. While Ms. Casella was on her way to Ohio, Mr. Alden telephoned Mr. Casella's attorney in North Carolina, Reid Phillips. Mr. Phillips advised Mr. Alden that reconciliation would have legal implications in the divorce proceedings and that steps should be taken to avoid reconciliation if Mr. Casella did not intend to reconcile.
Ms. Casella arrived at Mr. Casella's home in New Philadelphia on 4 April 2006 and was greeted warmly by everyone there, including Mr. Casella. Ms. Casella spent her first night there sleeping on an inflatable bed adjoined to Mr. Casella's hospital bed. They held hands as they fell asleep.
On either 5 or 6 April 2006, Mr. Alden relayed Mr. Phillips' advice to Mr. Casella. He also went to Mr. Casella's home, inquired whether Ms. Casella was there to reconcile with Mr. Casella, and asked Ms. Casella if she would be willing to sign a written statement that she had no intent to reconcile with Mr. Casella. Ms. Casella called her attorney in North Carolina, who advised her not to sign anything, and, as a result, Ms. Casella did not sign any such statement.
Later that afternoon, Mr. Casella and Ms. Casella had a private conversation in his bedroom.1 Following that conversation, Ms. Casella told Mr. Casella that she was willing to get back together with him as his wife. From then on, Mr. Casella and Ms. Casella slept together in the same bed every night until his death on 24 April 2006. Prior to going to sleep each night, they held hands and held each other. Other people living in the home, as well as some visitors, knew that Mr. Casella and Ms. Casella were sleeping in the same bed.
During that time, Ms. Casella, as well as others, provided care to Mr. Casella. She fed and bathed him, helped him move from place to place, tried to make him more comfortable, provided him with medicine and water, helped him to the bathroom, helped the hospice worker change the sheets when he had bowel movements in the bed, and gave him other general care. People staying in the home with Mr. and Ms. Casella and visitors to the home observed Ms. Casella caring for Mr. Casella. Visitors also observed Ms. Casella holding Mr. Casella's hand and saw her almost always at his bedside. The trial court found that "[t]he Plaintiff was observed by visitors as being there as Ross Casella's wife."
Although Mr. Casella was physically very ill, he remained mentally competent until his death. He executed his will on 13 April 2006, naming Mr. Alden as his executor. Ms. Casella was not left any property under the provisions of the will. Mr. Casella died on 24 April 2006.
Ms. Casella visited the funeral home with her son and discussed with the funeral director the casket and flower selections. She also chose the suit and tie in which Mr. Casella was dressed. Ms. Casella greeted guests at the wake and sat with other family in the front row of the church at the funeral service and at the grave-site ceremony. She helped organize a memorial service for Mr. Casella in Pennsylvania at which she again sat in the front row of the church and greeted visitors at a meal after the service.
After Mr. Casella's death, Mr. Alden was substituted as the named defendant in this action. Ms. Casella amended her complaint to omit her claim for equitable distribution, but Mr. Alden asserted a counterclaim for equitable distribution. Ms. Casella filed a reply alleging that Mr. Casella and she "were not living separate and apart at the time of Ross Casella's death, as required by G.S. 50-20(l)(1)[.]"
The trial court held a hearing solely on the issue of reconciliation and, in a judgment entered 8 April 2008, concluded that "[b]ased on the substantial objective evidence existing as of the time of Ross Casella's death, Ross Casella and Plaintiff had as a matter of law resumed their marital relationship and were not therefore living separate and apart at the time of the death." The court alternatively concluded that "[a]lthough this Court does not believe the objective evidence of reconciliation is in dispute, even assuming so, the parties had the mutual intent (existing at the time of Ross Casella's death) to reconcile or resume their marital relationship." Based on its determination that Mr. Casella and Ms. Casella had reconciled, the trial court dismissed defendant's equitable distribution claim with prejudice. Mr. Alden timely appealed to this Court.
Mr. Alden argues on appeal that there is insufficient evidence to support the trial court's findings of fact and conclusions of law that Ross Casella and Shirley Casella had reconciled at the time of Mr. Casella's death. When, as here, the trial court sits without a jury, the standard of review on appeal is whether there was competent evidence to support the trial court's findings of fact and whether those findings of fact supported its conclusions of law. Oakley v. Oakley, 165 N.C.App. 859, 861, 599 S.E.2d 925, 927 (2004). The trial court's findings are conclusive on appeal if there is evidence to support them, despite the existence of evidence in the record that might support a contrary finding. Hand v. Hand, 46 N.C.App. 82, 87, 264 S.E.2d 597, 599-600, disc. review denied, 300 N.C. 556, 270 S.E.2d 107 (1980). The trial court's conclusions of law, however, are reviewed de novo. Shear v. Stevens Bldg. Co., 107 N.C.App. 154, 160, 418 S.E.2d...
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