Hall v. Hall, WD
| Decision Date | 19 February 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. WD,WD |
| Citation | 804 S.W.2d 411 |
| Parties | Mary Sue HALL, Respondent, v. Bob Dean HALL, Appellant. 43213. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Dennis J.C. Owens, Kansas City, for appellant.
George R. Lilleston, Clinton, for respondent.
Before SHANGLER, P.J., and KENNEDY and FENNER, JJ.
Bob Dean Hall appeals from the portion of a dissolution of marriage decree awarding marital property to his former wife, Mary Sue Hall.
The Halls were married in 1976, they separated approximately eleven years later and they were ultimately divorced in 1990. Both had been previously married and had children from their separate marriages. At the time of the dissolution hearing, Bob Dean Hall was age 55, Mary Sue Hall was age 48, and their children were grown.
Before their marriage, the Halls agreed that they would maintain their separate residences until Mary Sue Hall's daughter graduated from high school, at which time Mary Sue Hall would move to Bob Dean Hall's residence. Mary Sue Hall held a life estate interest in a house in Clinton. Bob Dean Hall owned a house in Raytown, which was sparsely equipped with furniture only in one bedroom.
During the marriage, Bob Dean Hall commuted to Mary Sue Hall's Clinton home on most weekends. On those weekends, Mary Sue Hall would maintain a clean house, prepare her husband's meals, do his laundry and iron his clothes. Bob Dean Hall provided his wife with money in amounts varying from $15 to $40 on a weekly basis for household expenses. He also contributed $8,100 toward repairs to Mary Sue Hall's Clinton home. The Halls spent their vacations together and travelled extensively using Bob Dean Hall's TWA airfare pass.
The Halls were employed throughout their marriage. Bob Dean Hall began working for TWA in Kansas City in 1966. At the time of the dissolution hearing, he was working as a jet aircraft mechanic, was earning gross annual pay of nearly $40,000, and was accruing substantial deferred compensation and retirement benefits. Mary Sue Hall worked for Clearfield Cheese in Clinton from 1963 to May of 1987, when her employment terminated due to the closing of the main plant. She was forced to use her retirement savings account and pension benefits to cover living expenses and costs for remodeling work on her home. She went to work for Golden Valley Foods in June of 1987, but was laid off in April of 1988. She secured other employment at Schreiber Foods, but took a substantial cut in pay and benefits. Her gross monthly pay approximated $1200 at the time of the dissolution hearing. Completely different from her previous jobs, her work at Schreiber required her to stand on her feet during ten-hour shifts and aggravated an existing medical condition which caused swelling to the legs and ankles. Because of her concern about another plant closing and her inability to stand on her feet, Mary Sue Hall was considering taking a medical transcriber course in order to qualify for other employment.
Mary Sue Hall attributed the breakdown of the marriage to her losing her job and to her becoming a financial burden to her husband. Bob Dean Hall refused her requests to move to his Raytown residence and to provide her with additional financial support.
In its dissolution decree, the trial court awarded Mary Sue Hall $500 per month as periodic maintenance for one year and $2,500 in attorney's fees. Property allocations to Mary Sue Hall included household goods in her possession, two cars, the IRA account in her name at the TWA Credit Union, in addition to the following case allotments and monetary interests:
To Bob Dean Hall, the court awarded the entire loose coin collection; the remaining portions of the TWA Credit Union Savings Account, the TWA IAM Deferred Compensation Plan, the Machinists' Trust Annuity Plan (Plan B), and the TWA Machinists' Retirement Plan (Plan A); the household goods in his possession; two cars acquired during the marriage; his coin collection valued at $100; the IRA account in his name at the TWA Credit Union; and the plate, dish, figurine, and music box collections in his possession.
In his first point, Bob Dean Hall appears to argue that the award of certain property to Mary Sue Hall was based on insufficient evidence identifying that property as marital or non-marital. He specifically objects to the award to his former wife of shares in the coin collection, the TWA Credit Union Savings Account, Pension Plans A and B, and the IAM Deferred Compensation Plan. He claims the proportionate shares awarded to his former wife to be unfounded because no evidence established the value of the various assets or the date of their acquisition.
Bob Dean Hall contends that the trial court erroneously valued the loose coin collection at $14,000 by basing its determination solely on Mary Sue Hall's "guesstimate." The record, however, reveals substantial evidence of valuation. Mary Sue Hall testified at the hearing that the loose coin collection consisted of mainly quarters and some dimes and nickels. The loose coin collection was stored for a time during the marriage in Mary Sue Hall's Clinton home in Pringles potato chip cans which covered the floor of a closet and in pint sherbet containers which were stacked on top of one another under a double bed. In her testimony, Mary Sue Hall indicated that each Pringles can held $170 worth of quarters and each sherbet container held $115 worth of quarters; she calculated the value of the entire collection to be $14,000. In his testimony, Bob Dean Hall acknowledged the existence of the loose coin collection, but denied that it was worth $14,000. As indicated by the decree, the trial court relied on Mary Sue Hall's testimony in valuing the loose coin collection. The trial court is entitled to believe or disbelieve the testimony of either party concerning the valuation of property in a dissolution proceeding. In re Marriage of Smith, 785 S.W.2d 764, 767 (Mo.App.1990).
In support of the claimed errors in allocating his retirement benefits and credit union account, Bob Dean Hall argues that the trial court based its valuation of each asset on speculation and conjecture, and failed to consider the proportionate value of each account which had accrued before the marriage.
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