Avramis v. Avramis

• Decision Date: 04 December 1997
• Citation: 664 N.Y.S.2d 885,245 A.D.2d 585
• Parties: , 1997 N.Y. Slip Op. 10,370 Bill AVRAMIS, Respondent, v. Maria AVRAMIS, Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

Page 885

664 N.Y.S.2d 885

245 A.D.2d 585, 1997 N.Y. Slip Op. 10,370

Bill AVRAMIS, Respondent, v. Maria AVRAMIS, Appellant.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division Third Department.

Dec. 4, 1997.

Davidson & O'Mara P.C. (Timothy M. Tippins of Tippins & Cornaire LLP, Troy, of counsel), Elmira, for appellant.

Holmberg, Galbraith, Holmberg & Orkin (Dirk A. Galbraith, of counsel), Ithaca, for respondent.

Before MIKOLL, J.P., and MERCURE, CREW, YESAWICH and PETERS, JJ.

CREW, Justice.

Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court (Relihan Jr., J.) ordering equitable distribution of the parties' marital property, entered August 29, 1996 in Tompkins County, upon a decision of the court.

The parties were married in 1964 and have three children, all of whom are emancipated. During the course of their 30-year marriage, plaintiff and defendant engaged in various business ventures and acquired substantial property holdings, the latter of which consisted in large measure of rental properties located in the City of Ithaca, Tompkins County. In addition to the parties' real estate holdings in Tompkins County, they also owned property in the state of Florida and the country of Greece, and an independent appraisal placed the value of the parties' various properties at approximately $9.4 million. Ultimately Supreme Court, inter alia, granted the parties a divorce and awarded equitable distribution of the marital property. Defendant now appeals, contending that Supreme Court's distribution was not equitable and, further, that the court erred in failing to award her maintenance.

"Equitable distribution is designed to arrive at a fair distribution of the parties' marital property based upon the factors enumerated in Domestic Relations Law § 236(B)(5)(d)" (Ciaffone v. Ciaffone, 228 A.D.2d 949, 950, 645 N.Y.S.2d 549). Based upon our review of the record, and having given due consideration to the cited statutory factors, we are persuaded that Supreme Court effected such an award here. Accordingly, Supreme Court's judgment should be affirmed.

Although defendant raises numerous objections to the award fashioned by Supreme Court, we find her arguments to be lacking in merit. Initially, we reject defendant's contention that Supreme Court blindly adopted plaintiff's proposed findings of fact and, in distributing the marital property, did little more than pay lip service to the factors set forth in Domestic Relations Law § 236(B)(5)(d). Contrary to defendant's assertion, Supreme Court's decision adequately sets forth the basis for its distribution of the parties' marital property and specifically enumerates the statutory factors that it considered in arriving at that distribution.

As to the award itself, defendant primarily contends that plaintiff received a larger share of the various income-producing properties than she did and, as such, the distribution fashioned by Supreme Court necessarily is inequitable. Again, we cannot agree. As a starting point, although we do agree that defendant is entitled to receive an award that reflects the significant...