In re Marriage of Anderson and Murphy
| Citation | 938 N.E.2d 207,344 Ill.Dec. 938,405 Ill.App.3d 1129 |
| Decision Date | 15 November 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. 3-09-0829.,3-09-0829. |
| Parties | In re MARRIAGE OF Michael ANDERSON, Petitioner-Appellee, and Molly A. MURPHY, f/k/a Molly A. Anderson, Respondent-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
Jeffrey Alan Ryva (argued), Husch Blackwell LLP, Peoria, IL, for Molly A. Murphy.
Jonathan J. Heiple (argued), Heiple Law Offices, Maribeth Egert Dura, Dura Law Office, Peoria, IL, for Michael Anderson.
MODIFIED UPON DENIAL OF REHEARING
[344 Ill.Dec. 939, 405 Ill.App.3d 1130]
Respondent Molly Murphy, f/k/a Molly A. Anderson, appeals from the postjudgment order resolving all pending issues and dissolving her marriage to petitioner, Michael Anderson. On appeal, Molly argues that the trial court erred in (1) calculating net income for purposes of child support, (2) terminating maintenance, (3) awarding attorney fees, (4) altering the percentage of responsibility for the children's
[344 Ill.Dec. 940, 938 N.E.2d 209]
medical expenses, (5) denying her motion to return personal property, (6) relieving Michael of his duty to file amended tax returns, and (7) modifying Michael's previously imposed financial reporting requirements. We affirm in part, remand in part, reverse and remand in part, and vacate and remand in part.
Michael Anderson and Molly Murphy were married in January of 1993. Molly gave birth to twin daughters, Janelle and Kaleigh, on December 27, 1994.
During the marriage, Michael, who has a master's degree from the University of Illinois, worked in the financial industry. In 1998, he was employed by Komatsu and earned a gross income of $61,573. He also received a yearly dividend from stock he owned in his family's closely held corporation, AEC Holding Company.
Molly was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 1990 and was employed by Caterpillar. After she married Michael, she continued to work for Caterpillar until the birth of the twins. Shortly thereafter, she returned to work. In December of 1995, she was placed on disability due to her illness. At that time, she was earning $52,000 per year, plus incentives. Molly currently receives a disability payment from Caterpillar, as well as social security benefits.
Michael petitioned for dissolution of the marriage in July 2001. On February 13, 2002, an agreed order was entered awarding custody of the girls to Molly. On August 25, 2004, a judgment of dissolution of marriage was entered dissolving the marriage and incorporating a stipulated visitation order. Under the terms of the stipulation, Michael had visitation with the twins every other weekend, every Wednesday evening and alternating holidays.
On September 2, 2004, the trial court entered a supplemental judgment that addressed the marital property issues but reserved determinations of child support and maintenance. According to the terms of the supplemental judgment, the trial court awarded Mike his AEC stock as nonmarital property for purposes of maintenance and directed him to provide Molly with copies of his income tax returns, including any attached schedules, W-2 forms and 1099 forms. For the children's medical expenses, Michael was responsible for 60% of the expenses not covered by insurance and Molly was responsible for 40%. Marital investments were divided equally between the parties, and the marital residence was transferred to Molly in exchange for a $40,000 payment to Michael. Michael was also ordered to inform Molly of any dividends he received from his shares of AEC stock and pay 28% of his net dividends as child support.
In December 2006, the trial court entered an order establishing that Michael would pay the sum of $900 per month in reviewable maintenance and that he would pay 28% of his statutory net income for child support. At that time, Michael was employed by Nextel, earning a salary of approximately $50,000 per year.
During the next two years, the parties filed numerous petitions for rules to show cause and motions to modify the terms of previousorders. In addition to the petitions, Molly filed a "Motion for Return of Children's Property." The motion alleged that the girls had taken personal property to Michael's residence during their visits and that Michael refused to return the items. The list of property included American Girl dolls, American Girl accessories, Disney DVDs, board games, a basketball hoop and clothing.
In September 2008, Michael filed a motion for review of Molly's $900 monthly maintenance award, as well as a petition to modify the medical expense allocation. In response, Molly filed a petition to modify
[344 Ill.Dec. 941, 938 N.E.2d 210]
child support and maintenance, seeking an increase in both based on Michael's new position with Habegger Corporation, in which he earned approximately $62,500 per year.
The motions and petitions were consolidated, and the trial court conducted hearings for several days. Michael testified that his shares of AEC stock had been purchased by the company as part of a reverse stock split in an attempt to reduce the number of outstanding shares. The reverse split affected all 11 shareholders. Those five shareholder who owned less than 5% of the company's outstanding shares were required to cash out their holdings based on a fair market valuation. The company forced Michael to sell all of his shares of stock because he owned only 2.16%. The reverse stock split went into effect on December 31, 2008. He received $192,780 as a result of the split and would no longer receive AEC dividends.
Testimony and exhibits established that the income generated by Michael's shares of AEC stock had been substantial. In 2005, he received dividend income in the amount of $171,760; in 2006, he received $197,887; and in 2007, he received $190,845. The call of the shares by the company resulted in Michael sustaining a capital loss of $65,743. Michael testified that he used the proceeds from the sale of the stock to purchase gold coins.
Michael further testified that most of the items listed in Molly's motion to return the children's property were items he had purchased for the girls or gifts they had received from his parents. He never refused to return things the children brought with them to his house. He stated that he packed all of the girls' belongings up and gave them to Goodwill because he had not had visitation with them for at least three years.
Molly testified that her medical condition and financial situation have not changed since 1995. She and the girls have been receiving social security benefits since 1996 due to her illness. She testified that she handles all transportation and scheduling for the children. At the time of the hearing, Michael had not seen the girls or exercised his visitation for almost three years. The trial court found that Michaelhad violated numerous court orders, but reserved the issue of attorney fees.
In a later petition before the court, Molly again sought attorney fees for the legal expenses she incurred. In support, she submitted affidavits from four attorneys who represented her during the divorce proceedings. Molly claimed that she incurred $74,547 in fees seeking to enforce previous court orders and responding to Michael's motion to terminate maintenance.
Both parties filed financial affidavits in addition to their testimony. Michael's affidavit, dated December 1, 2008, indicated that he was a territory manager for Habegger, earning a monthly salary of $5,100. Minus deductions for state and federal taxes, social security and child support, Michael reported a net monthly earned income of $1,510. He also reported dividend income of $1,966 from his AEC stock, for a total income of $3,476. His monthly expenses totaled $3,673. Michael listed $314,578 in nonmarital assets and $43,470 in nonmarital debt. He also stated that he had $22,024 in marital assets and no marital debt.
Molly's 2008 financial affidavit reported a net earned income of $3,356 per month, plus additional monthly income from maintenance and child support, for a total income of $7,024 per month. Molly stated that she had monthly household expenses totaling $4,034 and medical expenses equivalent to $772. Her total monthly expenses
[344 Ill.Dec. 942, 938 N.E.2d 211]
for the house, the children and her equaled $8,279. She listed her nonmarital assets at a value of more than $676,500 and her nonmarital debt as $161,725. The affidavit further stated that she had $42,000 in marital assets and no marital debt.
The trial court issued a written order addressing all post-dissolution motions. In its order, the court noted that the parties had not communicated effectively to resolve any issues and had not made good-faith efforts to comply with court orders. It ordered Michael to pay $31,892.88 for past child support and maintenance. Regarding income tax returns, the court stated that Michael had not filed the amended returns he was instructed to file for improperly claiming Kaleigh as a dependent when he failed to pay child support. To remedy the disadvantage to Molly, the court directed that Molly be allowed to claim both children as exemptions on her income tax returns until the girls turned 18 or completed high school. The court also modified Michael's financial reporting obligation to require him to provide Molly with a copy of his W-2 forms each April and to inform Molly of any changes in his employment.
The trial court declined to treat the sale of Michael's AEC stock as income, concluding that the stock was nonmarital property and thatMichael had no control over the sale of the stock. Since Michael was no longer receiving AEC dividends, the circuit court found a substantial change in circumstances had occurred and modified child support to the statutory percentage of Michael's current net income from his full-time employment, ordering him to pay $528.53 every two weeks. The trial court also refused Molly's request to require Michael to pay child support based upon any gifts ...
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