B.B. v. R.B.
| Decision Date | 04 May 2022 |
| Docket Number | CN21-03285 |
| Parties | B------------------- B--------, Petitioner, v. R----------B--------, Respondent. |
| Court | Family Court of Delaware |
Date Submitted: April 26, 2022
Petition No.: 21-13537 (Ancillary Matters)
Kara M. Swasey, Esquire; BAYARD, P.A., Attorneys for Petitioner
Alyssa G. Kelly, Esquire, RAHAIM, SAINTS AND WALSTROM, L.L.P Attorneys for Respondent
ORDER ON MATTERS ANCILLARY TO DIVORCE
On April 25, 2022, the Court conducted a hearing ancillary to divorce regarding property division. Present in Court[1] were B --------------- B ------- ("Wife"), represented by Kara M. Swasey, Esquire ("Ms. Swasey"); and R -------- B -------- ("Husband"), represented by Alyssa G. Kelly Esquire. The Court heard testimony from both parties. This is the Court's ancillary disposition.
The parties were married on June 7, 1997, and separated on June 19, 2020. Wife has one previous marriage. This was Husband's first marriage. There are two children of the marriage.
On May 26, 2021, Wife filed a Petition for Divorce without ancillary matters.[2]On July 8, 2021, Wife filed a Motion for Retention of Ancillary Matters.[3] On July 15, 2021, the Motion was granted.[4] On August 5, 2021, Husband filed an Answer.[5]
On August 20, 2021, the Court granted the Petition for Divorce and retained ancillary jurisdiction over property division.[6]
On October 22, 2021, the Court set the dates for the pretrial conference and ancillary hearing.[7]
On December 10, 2021, Wife filed a Motion for Continuance based on the parties' request to conduct further discovery.[8] On December 10, 2021, the Court granted the Motion.[9]
On December 15, 2021, Wife's counsel filed a Motion to Withdraw as Counsel.[10] On January 5, 2022, the Motion was granted.[11] On December 20, 2021, the Court issued a Trial Scheduling Order.[12]
On January 26, 2022, the Court conducted the pretrial conference. The Court issued a new Scheduling Order, set a date for the Four-Way Meeting, set a deadline for a joint memorandum of Matters in Agreement and Matters in Dispute, and continued the ancillary hearing to April 25, 2022.[13]
On April 4, 2022, the parties submitted the Stipulation of Matters in Agreement and Matters in Dispute.[14] On April 25, 2022, the parties submitted an Addendum to the Stipulation of Matters in Agreement and Matters in Dispute.
On April 25, 2022, the parties appeared for the final hearing. The final submission was made on April 26, 2022 and the decision was reserved.
The parties testified at trial. Neither party presented additional witnesses. Both parties submitted intended exhibits and introduced those exhibits at trial. The facts listed below are limited to those which are relevant to property division and to this case in particular.
Husband is fifty-three years old and is employed as a union iron worker. Wife is sixty-one years old and works as a nurse practitioner. The parties met in a bar in 1994. Wife had a prior marriage and two children from her first marriage. Husband has no prior marriages. The parties became engaged in February 1996, and married on June 7, 1997. The parties lived together in Wife's home with Wife's older children.
In 1998, the parties purchased the former marital home in Townsend, Delaware. The parties had two children together - Rachel and Rebecca B ------- . Husband has no other children.
Both parties contributed financially to the marriage. Wife managed the household, handled the finances, worked part-time as a registered nurse, and later worked full-time as a nurse practitioner. Husband worked full-time in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. The parties lived comfortably and purchased a second home in Ocean View, Delaware in 2007. Husband and Wife were married for twenty-four years and two months.
Husband and Wife had a comfortable standard of living during the marriage. Both parties worked hard, did well, owned a second home, went on vacations, and sent their daughters to a private Catholic High School. As a union iron worker, Husband earned a similar to higher level of income in comparison to Wife.
Husband testified that he started as a non-union iron worker at Eagle Erectors. Husband entered the union in 1996, and started working in Delaware in 1997. Husband would work at least forty-eight hours per week. When at home Husband would contribute to household chores, watched the children on the weekend, and transported the children to their various activities.
Wife is a nurse practitioner and works forty hours per week. Wife testified that Wife never worried about retirement assets during the marriage because Husband had a "union-backed retirement."
Husband has worked in his field for thirty-two years and has worked on various jobs in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Husband started to work in New York when the parties moved to the marital home in Townsend in 1998. Since 2008, Husband has worked for XLE Metals. Husband receives compensation on an hourly basis.
In 2012, the parties faced a series of unexpected challenges. Husband suffered a work injury while on a job in Brooklyn, New York while acting in a supervising capacity for J.H. Reid General Contractor. Husband tore his rotator cuff and "destroyed" his left shoulder. Husband had to undergo surgery and received physical therapy. On May 17, 2013, Husband suffered another work injury in a crane accident that injured his back, broke his shoulder, and caused him to miss at least ten weeks of work.
Husband suffered permanent injuries. Husband received worker's compensation and a legal settlement from litigation in New York. Husband introduced a Stipulation and Order for Commutation, Workers Compensation, New York Suit, New York Complaint, and New York Closing Statement.[15] Husband received a $75, 000 settlement and a net recovery of $48, 503. In a subsequent settlement, Husband recovered $80, 000 and received a net of $28, 000. Finally, Husband received a settlement of $240, 000 and a net recovery of $34, 584.[16]
The parties overcame the unexpected financial challenges and kept many of their finances separate. However, after receiving the worker's compensation and settlement checks, Husband deposited the funds directly into the jointly titled DEXSTA Bank Account. The DEXSTA account is and is a transactional bank account. [17] The majority of the worker's compensation and settlement funds was used to pay for the tuition for parties' daughters at a private high school. Husband explained that he used the remaining funds to pay for two mortgages and other life expenses the parties incurred.
Wife made significant contributions to the marriage. At the beginning of the marriage, Wife worked as a registered nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at Saint Francis Hospital. After the parties' children were born, Wife started to work at a weekend program. Wife explained that she received no benefits in this position and worked per diem (on call) during the week as needed. Wife introduced her Social Security Statement listing her wages and earnings.[18] Between 2004 and 2009, Wife earned between $42, 000 and $69, 000. Later on, Wife decided to go back to school and earn her Nurse Practitioner certification. By 2019, Wife's income had increased to $112, 000. By way of comparison, Husband earned between $71, 000 and $137, 000 from 2011 through 2020.
The parties separated in June 2020, and the parties began to face new challenges. Husband contends that prior to the divorce proceeding the parties worked out an arrangement. Husband proposed that each party keep one of the properties. Wife selected the Ocean View home and Husband kept the Townsend home. Each party agreed to refinance the properties in their individual names. Wife testified that she successfully refinanced the Ocean View home in April 2021, and the parties filed for divorce.
Husband's retention of the Townsend home incurred a lot of household maintenance expense. These expenses impacted Husband's financial condition. The home needed a new well pump, required new pipes, suffered flood damage, and had insurance issues. Husband introduced copies of his bills related to those expenses.[19] In summer 2020, a tornado at the former marital residence destroyed a fence and the home sustained significant property damage. Property insurance paid $13, 988 for the tornado damage. Husband introduced pictures of the damage and the bills related to repairing the damage.[20] Husband spent a total of $44, 348.
The parties were divorced on August 20, 2021, marking the end of their twenty-four year marriage. Following the divorce, the parties have resolved most of the issues surrounding their vehicles. To their credit, the parties were able to make mutual decisions on retention of vehicles, marital personal property, and values for the various bank accounts. The parties had a narrow list of items for the Court to decide, including the value of Husband's personal truck and certain claimed debts.
The parties agreed to share Husband's pension, but the parties later learned the breadth and depth of Husband's retirement assets. Wife was under the impression that Husband only had pensions through his employment. Because Wife only worked part-time or per diem, she did not accumulate separate retirement assets until more recently.
Husband has several retirement assets. He decided to take withdrawals from the assets after the parties' separation to assist in the unreimbursed cost of repairs. Similarly, Wife...
To continue reading
Request your trial