Jackson v. Jackson

• Decision Date: 28 May 2013
• Docket Number: No. 2011–CA–01882–COA.,2011–CA–01882–COA.
• Citation: 114 So.3d 768
• Parties: William Paul JACKSON, Jr., Appellant v. Linda L. JACKSON, Appellee.
• Court: Mississippi Court of Appeals

114 So.3d 768

William Paul JACKSON, Jr., Appellant
v.
Linda L. JACKSON, Appellee.

No. 2011–CA–01882–COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

May 28, 2013.

[114 So.3d 770]

T. Victor Bishop, attorney for appellant.

Regan S. Russell, New Albany, attorney for appellee.

Before LEE, C.J., CARLTON and MAXWELL, JJ.

CARLTON, J., for the Court:

¶ 1. William Paul Jackson Jr. appeals the judgment of the Itawamba County Chancery Court that awarded Linda L. Jackson separate maintenance of $600 a month as well as the use of the home and surrounding land, the proceeds of an income-tax refund check, and other relief. On appeal, Paul raises the following issues: (1) whether Linda sufficiently met the jurisdictional requirements to sustain her separate-maintenance award; (2) whether the separate-maintenance award to Linda should be sustained absent any corroboration of Linda's case, and whether Linda met her burden of proof for the case; and (3) assuming the award of separate maintenance is sustainable, whether the award of a monthly amount of support almost 150% higher than Paul's net monthly income constitutes manifest error.

¶ 2. We find that the record reflects Linda failed to present evidence sufficient to sustain the award of separate maintenance. Therefore, the chancellor erroneously awarded the equitable relief of separate maintenance to Linda, due to the lack of requisite findings and evidence showing Linda's marital conduct, or course of conduct, was not a material factor in causing the parties' separation.¹ Since this failure of requisite evidence to support the separate-maintenance award is case-dispositive, we reverse and render.

FACTS

¶ 3. Paul and Linda married on March 5, 1991. After their marriage, Paul adopted Linda's daughter, who is now over twenty-one years old. After approximately twenty years of marriage, Paul separated from Linda on or about March 5, 2011.

¶ 4. Paul testified that a cumulation of events led to his departure from the marital home. Paul testified that while they were married, Linda repeatedly demanded that he leave the marital home, and he stated that Linda repeatedly told him that the marital home and land were hers. Regarding the home and residential-property ownership, the record shows that Linda's parents owned the home in which Paul and Linda resided, and the property deed reflects Linda as the sole owner of the real property subject to her parents' life estate. Paul testified that Linda often told him that she did not love him, and he asserted that she rarely engaged in sexual relations with him. With respect to Linda's conduct contributing to the parties' separation, Paul further stated that Linda never cooked; she failed to assist with household duties; and she failed to support him in his farm work or other efforts. Paul asserts that Linda also kept their financial affairs separate, specifically citing to secretive behavior when she received approximately $200,000 from an inheritance and converted a large portion of the money into $100 bills, with no explanation as to where that money went. In explaining the cumulative effect of Linda's behavior upon the marriage and his decision to leave the marital home in March 5, 2011, Paul testified: “[S]he kept telling me repeatedly over the period of years, and I finally decided I didn't have to live like that[;] I could go

[114 So.3d 771]

and do something else.... [I]n March, I decided I didn't have to do that. I just said, ‘There's no use, I don't have to live like this anymore.’ ” Following the separation, Paul testified that he rented and lived in a house in Mantachie, Mississippi, until he got an eviction notice in September 2011. Paul admitted to forming a relationship with Bonnie Jones in June 2011, months after his separation from Linda. Paul stated that following the eviction, he moved into a house with Bonnie.

¶ 5. We now turn to review the facts in the record pertaining to Paul's marital fault contributing to the separation. Linda testified that Paul left the marital residence because of his affair with Bonnie, which she contended started in December 2010. Linda claimed that Paul started sending text messages to Bonnie during the night, at one time sending her 217 text messages in approximately two days. Linda testified that Paul admitted to her his infidelity with Bonnie prior to leaving the marital home in March 2011. Linda further testified that she tried unsuccessfully to “get him to work things out,” and that she “was just devastated.” Linda denied telling Paul to leave the marital home, and she indicated that she remained open to reconciliation with Paul, albeit with certain conditions. Linda testified that Paul would need to receive “help for some issues that he's had,” and that the “marriage would have to have some issues worked out, some relationship counseling [.]” The record provides no testimony or other evidence to explain what changes or conditions Linda required Paul to satisfy before she would reconcile with him.

¶ 6. Gail Whitaker, the sole witness other than the parties, testified that after separating from Linda, Paul rented a home from her in March 2011. Gail testified that Paul only stayed in the home for a week or two. Gail stated that after Paul quit staying in the house, he went “to her home,” referencing Bonnie. Gail provided that she became aware of Paul and Bonnie's extramarital relationship when Bonnie accompanied Paul to Gail's home in July 2011, some months after the separation in March 2011.

¶ 7. On June 20, 2011, Linda filed a complaint against Paul for separate maintenance. In her complaint, Linda sought support, use and possession of the home and land, and other relief. Paul responded with his answer in which he denied Linda's entitlement to relief, and with his counter-complaint in which he sought certain personal property and distribution of the parties' recent income-tax refund check. Following a hearing on August 25, 2011, the chancellor timely rendered an opinion and judgment on November 16, 2011, in which he awarded Linda the $600–per–month separate-maintenance award currently disputed on appeal, the use of the home, the income-tax refund check, and other relief. Significantly, the chancellor's order provides no findings as to whether Linda's marital misconduct, or course of such conduct, materially contributed to the separation or not.²

¶ 8. After hearing the testimony and the evidence, the chancellor found Linda's claims credible regarding the extramarital affair between Paul and Bonnie, and the chancellor also acknowledged evidence in the record showing Linda's marital misconduct Paul argued contributed to the separation. While the chancellor indeed acknowledged evidence in the record of Linda's marital misconduct during the last five years of marriage, the chancellor provided no findings as to whether Linda's marital misconduct contributed, materially

[114 So.3d 772]

or otherwise, to the separation. The chancellor acknowledged the following evidence of Linda's marital misconduct: lack of companionship and consortium; failure to contribute to household duties; and secretive financial dealings. The chancellor's decision even acknowledged Linda's failure to disclose her assets and separate property to the court in her Uniform Chancery Court Rule 8.05 financial statement, wherein Linda failed to disclose her separate remainder interest in real property, her business-ownership interest, the residence provided to her at no cost, and her ownership of two trailers. The chancellor also acknowledged Linda diverted $97,000 of approximately $200,000 from an inheritance for unknown uses, and she disclosed none of this money in her Rule 8.05 financial statement. In his order, the chancellor found, in part, as follows in regard to the parties' financial conditions:

Paul works regularly. Indeed, he is engaged in a number of business ventures. He is the principal in Jackson Truck Lines and has a number of trucks and trailers[;] he farms and has farm equipment[;] he has an interest in cattle; he has a used car and truck business[;] and he raises hay which he sells to the public.

Although Paul[ ] and Linda's 2010 Joint Individual Income Tax Return shows a total income of $4,207 and an adjusted gross income of $3,916, it is also reflected that Paul had a higher gross income. Moreover, Paul's bank statements reflected that the amount of money moving through Paul's bank account was considerable[.] To the court's amazement, Paul's 8.05[f]inancial [s]tatement ... claimed a net monthly pay of $313.34, a total monthly income of $4,540 and total monthly expenses of $9,429[,] in addition to monthly installment payments of $1,457.06.

While the court must take Paul's assertion that the contents of his [Rule] 8.05[f]inancial [s]tatement ... are “true and correct,” the court finds that Paul enjoys good health, has the ability to earn and is in fact earning a living, and has been able to make purchases since he and Linda separated. These include a new hay bailer, a computer, a flat screen television, a deep freezer and a refrigerator.

Linda's [Rule] 8.05[f]inancial [s]tatement, which is part of the court file, is completely inadequate. It only indicates Linda's income and her expenses. It does not indicate that Linda has a remainder interest in real property and that she lives on that property at no cost. Nor does Linda's [Rule] 8.05[f]inancial [s]tatement indicate her ownership interest in Pet Palace, a business that played prominently in the parties' testimony.

....

Paul offered no proof that Pet Palace was an income producing endeavor.

In addition to Pet Palace[,] Paul claimed that Linda possessed two trailers full of rustic furniture which she could sell to produce income. This would be in addition to the $7,000 received from Linda from the sale of scrap metal after the parties separated. No proof was offered by Linda or Paul as to the amount which would be generated by the sale of the rustic furniture contained...