Herron v. Herron
| Decision Date | 26 April 2022 |
| Docket Number | 2021-CA-00090-COA |
| Citation | 338 So.3d 662 |
| Parties | Jesse Earl HERRON, Appellant v. Lawanda Daphene HERRON and Dorothy Shelton Fondre, Appellees |
| Court | Mississippi Court of Appeals |
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: JAMES H. POWELL III, Durant
ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEES: A. E. (RUSTY) HARLOW, JR., Grenada, SABRINA D. HOWELL
BEFORE BARNES, C.J., WESTBROOKS AND EMFINGER, JJ.
WESTBROOKS, J., FOR THE COURT:
¶1. Jesse Herron (Jesse) and Lawanda Herron (Lawanda) were granted a divorce by the Tallahatchie County Chancery Court. Jesse appeals, asserting that the trial court erred (1) when it granted a constructive trust in a home on the marital property to Lawanda's mother, Dorothy Shelton Fondren (Dorothy), and (2) when it placed excessive values on marital property prior to division. Finding no error, we affirm.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶2. Jesse and Lawanda were married in Tallahatchie County on July 2, 1988. From their union two female children were born. On April 22, 2019, Lawanda filed for a divorce. At the time the parties filed for divorce, only one child, JLH,1 was a minor. On February 3, 2020, Dorothy moved to intervene in the proceedings, which the trial court granted shortly thereafter. On March 9, 2020, Dorothy subsequently filed her complaint, in which she requested that the trial court grant her a constructive trust in the residence that she built on the fifteen-acre property of Jesse and Lawanda.
Both parties had claimed the home as part of their marital estate.
¶3. On August 26, 2020, the case proceeded to trial. The parties consented to a divorce on the basis of irreconcilable differences. Jesse and Lawanda were also able to agree to joint legal custody of JLH before the proceedings began. The parties voluntarily consented that the trial court should decide the remaining issues of child support, college costs, equitable division of the marital assets and debts, and alimony, as well as retroactive child support and college expenses.
¶4. Testimony from the parties at trial established that Jesse was a self-employed diesel mechanic with his shop located on the same few acres of the property on which the marital residence was built. Lawanda testified that she was a semi-retired nurse who, due to fibromyalgia, was unable to work full time. Lawanda attested to a gross monthly income of approximately $6,636, with the figure representing a combination of retirement benefits and part-time income. Jesse stated that he earned approximately $1,600 to $3,000 per month. This was contradicted by his report to the Bank of Commerce that he made $8,000 a month, as well as his 2019 tax report that indicated his income for the year was $111,328. Jesse also denied that his business bank account contained over $15,000 in it during 2019, which was easily proven by bank documents. Additionally, Lawanda and JLH testified that Jesse conducted much of his business in cash, which Jesse acknowledged. Because of these discrepancies, Jesse's actual monthly income was not clearly established.
¶5. These were not the only discrepancies that Jesse was confronted with. Jesse also testified that he had not had adulterous affairs in which he spent money on other women. However, one witness, Angela Harper (Angela) testified that she had an adulterous relationship with Jesse, and he had in fact spent money on her in the form of romantic trips and other gifts. Because Jesse had lied about his finances and affairs, the trial court noted that it found him to be untrustworthy, and therefore placed more credibility on Lawanda's testimony and accompanying property valuations.
¶6. Additional testimony described the property Dorothy built on the land of Jesse and Lawanda. Dorothy described herself as a seventy-two-year-old former teacher and testified that she built a home using her savings on a corner of Jesse and Lawanda's property in 2005. Dorothy testified that she built the house at the request of Jesse and Lawanda because they were concerned about her living by herself and arriving home after dark at her old home, which was next to some newly constructed apartments. Dorothy testified that Lawanda and Jesse helped her make the decision to build the house because "they [were] scared for me to be living alone around a lot of youngsters" who resided in the new apartments. She said that Jesse had his brother clear off a spot on their fifteen-acre property for her to build a house. Dorothy further testified that she paid all the expenses related to the house, including the homeowner's insurance and utilities. The only exception was the property taxes for her home, which were included in Jesse and Lawanda's annual tax bill for their entire property. Dorothy eventually remarried and no longer used the house on Jesse and Lawanda's property as her primary residence, although she and her husband left the utilities on for when they would visit. Dorothy gave permission for Lawanda and JLH to reside there after Lawanda's separation from Jesse. Dorothy stated that there was never any need to ask for legal documentation of home ownership prior to the divorce proceedings because "they knew it was my house."
¶7. Lawanda testified that she had always considered the house Dorothy's property, as Dorothy had always been the one to perform the upkeep on it. She explained that the agreement was that Dorothy would will the house to Jesse and Lawanda upon her death, so that they could continue to control who resided in the home. Jesse also testified that he considered the house to belong to Dorothy. He admitted that this only changed when he began to prepare financial documents in preparation for the divorce. Jesse also acknowledged he had never asserted any control over the house, never had a key to the house, and had never spent the night at the house.
¶8. On August 27, 2020, the trial court entered a temporary order requiring Jesse to pay child support in the amount of $850 per month until JLH reached the age of majority. The order also stated that he should reimburse Lawanda a total of $16,501 in monthly increments of $1,200 for past college expenses for JLH in lieu of retroactive child support. The temporary order also required monthly payments for marital debt in the amount of $300 for Lawanda and $400 for Jesse. This order operated until the trial court issued its final order on October 23, 2020.
¶9. In its final order the trial court granted the divorce on the ground of irreconcilable differences. It incorporated the prior determinations from the temporary order regarding child support and college expenses.
¶10. The trial court first gave a detailed analysis of each of the Armstrong2 factors before it denied Jesse's request for alimony from Lawanda. Next, the trial court turned to Dorothy's request for a constructive trust in the home she built on the marital property. The trial court granted her a life estate through the operation of a constructive trust in her home. The trial court determined that "it is clear that all parties in this case actually considered [Dorothy's] legal status as being one of a life estate in the real property," finding that Dorothy was "entitled to the full exclusive use, enjoyment and possession of her home until she dies."
¶11. The trial court then proceeded to the equitable division of the marital assets and debts using the Ferguson factors. Real property consisted of the marital home, Dorothy's home, and the fifteen acres on which the homes both sat. While both parties valued Dorothy's home at $130,000, they valued the marital home at very different amounts. Lawanda placed a value of $190,000 on the marital home, while Jesse placed a value of $115,000 on the home, based on an appraisal he received five months after Lawanda filed for divorce. The trial court noted that the home sold for more than this appraisal value when they purchased it for $125,000 in 1997. Because of the discrepancy between the values, the trial court took judicial notice of the tax assessor's valuation of $147,594 instead. The trial court awarded Jesse the marital home and his business, as well as two acres associated with the structures, and three additional acres without structures. The trial court granted Lawanda nine acres of the property. Each party received a one-half share of the remaining acre on which Dorothy's house sat.
¶12. Additionally, there were minor disputes in value over personal property, such as a Harley Davidson motorcycle that Jesse valued at $6,000 and Lawanda valued at $8,000. The trial court specifically noted that it found Lawanda's valuations to be more credible in light of Jesse's testimony at trial, which was contradicted by outside witnesses, Lawanda, and his minor daughter.
¶13. The final large discrepancy was regarding Jesse's business assets: his mechanic shop and equipment, tools, and vehicles. Jesse provided the trial court with a valuation of $55,000 for his business structure, which varied wildy from Lawanda's valuation of $400,000 for the business assets. The trial court noted that Jesse did not provide any valuations for his equipment and multiple work vehicles, which uncontradicted testimony established that he owned. These included: two service trucks, two fifth-wheel wreckers, a flatbed truck, a forklift, and additional tools and supplies for his trade. The trial court used Jesse's valuation of his business structure and added an additional $150,000 valuation for the vehicles and tools associated with the business, for a total of $205,000 in business assets for Jesse's business.
¶14. The trial court also divided personal vehicles, checking accounts, retirement accounts, and debts belonging to both parties. The final tally in the trial court's order listed Lawanda as receiving assets valued at $475,702 and debts in the amount of $38,901. Jesse received assets in the amount of $521,969, with marital debts in the amount of $81,310. The final total advantage was to Jesse in the amount of $3,048...
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...on the best information available." Id. (quoting Stribling v. Stribling, 906 So.2d 863, 870 (¶25) (Miss. Ct. App. 2005)). Herron v. Herron, 338 So.3d 662, 670-71 (Miss. Ct. App. 2022). While the record is silent on when the properties were acquired, the record does confirm that Christopher ......