Geist v. Geist, 15-0578
| Decision Date | 25 May 2016 |
| Docket Number | No. 15-0578,15-0578 |
| Parties | IN RE THE MARRIAGE OF LAURA GEIST AND MARK GEIST Upon the Petition of LAURA GEIST, n/k/a LAURA FRAZIER, Petitioner-Appellee/Cross-Appellant, And Concerning MARK GEIST, Respondent-Appellant/Cross-Appellee. |
| Court | Iowa Court of Appeals |
IN RE THE MARRIAGE OF LAURA GEIST AND MARK GEIST
Upon the Petition of LAURA GEIST, n/k/a LAURA FRAZIER, Petitioner-Appellee/Cross-Appellant,
And Concerning MARK GEIST, Respondent-Appellant/Cross-Appellee.
No. 15-0578
COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA
May 25, 2016
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Stuart P. Werling, Judge.
Former husband and wife contest the property distribution and economic provisions of the decree dissolving their marriage. AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED.
Nathan M. Legue of Cartee & McKenrick, P.C., Davenport, for appellant.
Wendy S. Meyer of Lane & Waterman, LLP, Davenport, for appellee.
Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and Mullins, JJ.
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DOYLE, Judge.
Mark Geist appeals and Laura Frazier (formerly Geist) cross-appeals from the decree dissolving their marriage. The parties contest the district court's overall property division, including its property valuations and the percentage of those valuations it included as marital assets. Additionally, Mark challenges the court's awards of permanent spousal support and trial attorney fees to Laura, and Laura contends the court erred in not ordering Mark to purchase or maintain a life-insurance policy for her benefit, in failing to include a specific hold-harmless clause, and in not allowing her additional time to remove her personal property from the marital home. She requests appellate attorney fees. Upon our de novo review, we affirm as modified.
I. Background Facts and Proceedings.
Mark and Laura Geist married in 1998. They have no children. In April 2014, Laura filed a petition seeking to dissolve their marriage.
In August 2014, the district court filed its "Trial Setting Conference Memorandum," indicating spousal support, property, debts, and attorney fees were issues "that may be contested" at trial, and it set a trial date for February 2015.
Trial was held as scheduled. At the start, the district court stated:
The parties have signed and presented to the court, prior to going on the record, a statement of uncontested and contested issues, which the court has received, and a joint statement of assets and liabilities.
Although the joint statement of assets and liabilities is signed by the parties, the . . . petitioner has informed the court that there may be some modification regarding bank account numbers once the evidence is received.
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The court then asked the parties if there was "anything else preliminarily we need to do . . . ?" Both parties' attorneys answered in the negative, and the testimony began. Ultimately, neither the statement of the parties' uncontested and contested issues nor the joint statement of assets and liabilities made it into the record.
On March 5, 2015, the district court entered its order and ruling dissolving the parties' marriage. The court set forth the following assets as marital property, and it assigned valuations and distributed the property as follows:1
| PETITIONER'S VALUES | Court's Value | Mark | Laura |
| [Homestead] | $255,300.00 | $127,650.00 | $127,650.00 |
| [Rental] | $190,970.00 | $152,776.00 | $38,194.00 |
| 2000 [car] | $2,000.00 | $2,000.00 | |
| 2011 [truck] | $20,900.00 | $20,900.00 | |
| Boat & Trailer | $1,500.00 | ||
| Horse Trailer | $500.00 | ||
| [Pick-up] | $1,500.00 | $1,500.00 | |
| Work Trailer | $350.00 | ||
| [CMFG Insurance] | $5,455.00 | $5,455.00 | |
| [NW Mutual Insurance] | $26,473.00 | $26,473.00 | |
| Prudential | |||
| [BF] Stock | $56,333.67 | $56,333.67 | |
| [Bank2] CD | $64,552.07 | $64,552.07 | |
| [Bank] RENTAL DEPOSIT | $1,500.00 | $1,500.00 | |
| [Bank] | $14,847.77 | $14,847.77 | |
| [Bank] | $300.00 | ||
| [Bank] | $63,221.12 | $31,610.56 | $31,610.56 |
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| [Bank] | $1,500.00 | $750.00 | $1,500.00 |
| [Bank] | $29,532.00 | ||
| [Bank] | |||
| [Bank] | |||
| Guns & Safe | $2,300.00 | $2,300.00 | |
| Shop Contents | $25,000.00 | $25,000.00 | |
| Tractor | $17,413.60 | $17,413.60 | |
| Appliances | $1,500.00 | $1,500.00 | |
| Furniture | $5,000.00 | $5,000.00 | |
| subtotal | $557,911.67 | $201,254.56 |
The court noted the distribution netted Mark $356,657.11 over the assets awarded to Laura. The court also found the "total marital debt [was] about $20,000," and it ordered Mark to pay "all marital debt as identified in the joint statement of assets and liabilities." To give Mark credit for the marital debt it ordered him to pay, the court subtracted $20,000 from the $356,657.11 property award differential, rounded it off to $337,000, divided it in half, and ordered Mark pay an equalization payment to Laura of $168,500.
The court found "Mark earn[ed] approximately $92,000 and Laura $22,500 per year in gross income" and ordered Mark to pay Laura permanent spousal support of $1100 per month. Mark was also ordered to pay $12,000 of Laura's attorney fees. The court declined Laura's request for additional time to remove her property from the marital property.
Thereafter, Laura filed an Iowa Rule of Civil Procedure 1.904(2) motion requesting that the court enlarge or amend its decree in numerous respects. Among other things, Laura requested the court amend the decree to require Mark to maintain life insurance for her benefit to secure her spousal support. She also requested the court amend the decree to include a hold-harmless
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clause concerning the parties' past tax returns, and she asked for additional time to remove her property from the marital home.
At this point, the court became aware it did not have the parties' joint statement, and at the court's request, the parties resubmitted the statement on March 18, 2015. The undated statement, which was signed only by the parties' attorneys, is as follows:3
| ASSETS | OWNER | Agreed Recipient | Agreed Value | Values [Laura] | Values [Mark] |
| [Homestead] | J | $255,300.00 | | ||
| [Rental] | D | $190,970.00 | |||
| | J | | | ||
| | J | | | ||
| 2000 [car] | W | $2,000.00 | $2,000.00 | $2,000.00 | |
| 2011 [truck] | H | $19,946.00 | |||
| Boat & Trailer* | H | $3,000.00 | |||
| 2012 [tractor] | H | $26,600.00 | |||
| Horse Trailer* | H | $1,000.00 | $800.00 | ||
| [Pick-up] | H | $1,500.00 | $1,500.00 | ||
| Work Trailer | H | $5,000.00 | $1,500.00 | ||
| [CMFG Insurance]* | H | $5,455.95 | $5,455.95 | $5,455.95 | |
| [Mutual Insurance]* | H | $26,473.13 | $26,473.13 | $26,473.13 | |
| Prudential (term) | W | $0.00 | |||
| [BF Stock] | H | $56,333.67 | $41,499.00 | ||
| | | — | — | | |
| [Rental Bank #0898] | H | $1,500.00 | $1,500.00 | ||
| [Bank #8979 (checking)] | H | $3,631.89 | $3,631.89 | ||
| [Bank #0365] | H | | $22,252.64 | ||
| [Bank #5854] | H | $63,281.02 | $63,281.02 | ||
| [Bank #7085] | W | $350.00 | $350.00 | ||
| [Bank #4262] | W | $300.00 | $300.00 | ||
| [Bank #7751] | H | $29,532.00 | |||
| [Bank IRA #2422] | H | $9,207.08 | $9,207.08 | ||
| [Pension]* | H | $248.00/mo. | $248.00/mo. | $248.00/mo. |
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| Shop Contents/Tools* | H | $50,000.00 | $25,000.00 | ||
| Guns & Safe* | H | $15,000.00 | $2,500.00 | ||
| Appliances | H | $5,000.00 | $1,000.00 | ||
| [Livestock] | H | $1,500.00 | $500.00 | ||
| LIABILITIES | OWNER | Agreed Recipient | Agreed Value | Values [Laura] | Values [Mark] |
| [2009 Federal Taxes] | W | $11,642.00 | $11,642.00 | ||
| Genesis | W | ||||
| [2009 State Taxes] | W | $3,843.15 | $3,620.00 | ||
| [Misc. Medical Exps.] | W | $2,046.95 | |||
| [Store] Credit Card | W | $50.00 | |||
| [Tractor Bank Loan] | H | $13,409.00 | |||
| Quad Corporation | W | $1,439.73 | |||
| [CS] Recovery | W | $73.51 | |||
| [Laura's Attorney's Fees] | W | $12,689.69 | |||
| [Psych. Assoc.] | J | $196.00 | |||
| [Bank Credit Card] | H | 0.00 | |||
Mark filed a resistance to Laura's motion, as well as his own rule 1.904(2) motion. Mark requested, among many things, that the court amend its ruling to "base the property division on the agreed-upon values set forth by the parties['] . . . Joint Statement, subject to the evidence on [Bank] account balances submitted" into evidence at trial. He also requested the court amend the decree "to take into account the premarital nature" of assets designated as premarital on the statement. Additionally, he requested the court reevaluate its property distribution, reduce the income it attributed to him, and reduce the amount of the spousal support award accordingly.
The district court subsequently entered an order amending its original order and ruling. "Based on the values stated in" the parties' joint statement, the
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court amended its valuations and distributions of assets in the following respects:4
| PETITIONER'S VALUES | Court's Value | Mark | Laura |
| [Homestead] | $255,300.00 | $127,650.00 | $127,650.00 |
| [Rental] | $190,970.00 | $152,776.00 | $38,194.00 |
| 2000 [car] | $2,000.00 | $2,000.00 | |
| 2011 [truck] | | | |
| [AMENDED VALUE] | $19,946.00 | $19,946.00 | |
| Boat & Trailer | | ||
| [AMENDED VALUE TO $3,000 & DESIGNATED PREMARITAL] | $0.00 | ||
| Horse Trailer | | ||
| [AMENDED VALUE] | $1,000.00 | ||
| [Pick-up] | $1,500.00 | $1,500.00 | |
| Work Trailer | | ||
| [AMENDED VALUE] | $5,000.00 | ||
| [CMFG Insurance] | $5,455.00 | $5,455.00 | |
| [NW Mutual Insurance] | $26,473.00 | $26,473.00 | |
| Prudential | |||
| [BF] Stock | $56,333.67 | $56,333.67 | |
| [Bank] CD | $64,552.07 | $64,552.07 | |
| [Bank] RENTAL DEPOSIT | | | |
| [REMOVED FROM ASSETS] | $0.00 | $0.00 | |
| [Bank] | $14,847.77 | $14,847.77 | |
| [Bank] | $300.00 | ||
| [Bank] | | | |
| [IDENTIFIED AS Bank #5854 & AMENDED VALUE] | $31,640.515 | $15,820.26 | $15,820.26 |
| [Bank] | $1,500.00 | $750.00 | $1,500.00 |
| [Bank] | $29,532.00 | ||
| [Bank] | |||
| [Bank] | |||
| Guns & Safe | $2,300.00 | $2,300.00 |
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