K.B. v. D.B.

• Citation: 245 Md.App. 647,227 A.3d 705
• Decision Date: 29 April 2020
• Docket Number: No. 2860, Sept. Term, 2018,No. 1155, Sept. Term, 2019,2860, Sept. Term, 2018,1155, Sept. Term, 2019
• Parties: K.B. v. D.B.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

245 Md.App. 647

227 A.3d 705

K.B.

v.D.B.

No. 2860, Sept. Term, 2018

No. 1155, Sept. Term, 2019

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

Filed: April 29, 2020

Argued by: Allen J. Kruger (Elizabeth A. Kruger, Kruger & Kruger, LLC, on the brief), Annapolis, MD, for Appellant.

Argued by: Jerrold A. Thrope (Gordon Feinblatt, LLC, on the brief), Baltimore, MD, for Appellee.

Berger, Reed, Irma S. Raker (Senior Judge, Specially Assigned), JJ.^*

Berger, J.

This is the second time the parties, K.B. ("Wife") and D.B. ("Husband"), have been before us on appeal from an order of the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County in their divorce case. In 2018, we addressed the circuit court's order regarding custody of the parties’ minor child ("Son") in an unreported opinion. K.B. v. D.B. , No. 1769, Sept. Term 2017, 2018 WL 3046937 (filed June 19, 2018). In the prior appeal, we vacated the trial court's order granting primary physical custody of Son to Husband and remanded the custody matter for further proceedings. This appeal involves economic matters only.

Wife presents four questions for our review, which we have rephrased slightly as follows:

I. Whether the circuit court erred and/or abused its discretion in connection with its alimony award.

II. Whether the circuit court erred and/or abused its discretion in connection with its determination of marital property and the monetary award.

III. Whether the circuit court erred in connection with its child support order.

IV. Whether the circuit court erred in connection with its counsel fees award.

For the reasons explained herein, we shall affirm the circuit court's judgment of divorce but otherwise vacate the judgment and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

We set forth much of the relevant factual and procedural background in our opinion in the parties’ prior appeal:¹

I. History of the Family Prior to the Separation of [Wife] and [Husband] in 2015

A. General Information

[Wife] was born in Arnold, Maryland in 1968. [Wife] received a bachelor's degree from Towson University and worked for four years as a flight attendant. [Wife] pursued a master's degree in teaching at Johns Hopkins University, but she dropped out prior to graduation after the dissolution of her first marriage.

[Husband] was born in 1955 in Exeter, New Hampshire. After graduating from the University of New Hampshire with a business degree in 1980, [Husband] worked for Nike in sales and marketing. [Husband] moved to Annapolis, Maryland in 1982. Four years later, [Husband] left Nike and became a salesman for commercial jets. In 1991, [Husband] and two co-workers formed their own company, which buys, sells, and brokers corporate jets.

[Husband] and [Wife] met in 1996 when [Wife] was working at [Husband]’s business. [Husband] and [Wife] were married in 1998 in Meredith, New Hampshire. [Husband] had three children from a prior marriage. For most of their marriage, the couple lived in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

B. Birth of Son

Son was born in 2003. [Wife] testified that she was the primary caregiver for Son and that she tended to his daily needs, made his meals, bathed him, and put him to bed. [Wife] testified that she took Son to school and extracurricular activities and picked him up afterward. [Wife] testified that she was responsible for planning social events, birthday parties, holidays, and family events. [Wife] testified that she made doctor and dentist appointments for Son, attended school functions and parent-teacher conferences, helped Son with homework and school projects, and volunteered in Son's classrooms.

[Husband] testified that [Wife] was frequently unable to care for Son due to health issues. [Husband] testified that [Wife] suffered from severe depression, fibromyalgia

, Lyme disease, and bipolar disorder. [Husband] testified that [Wife] would stay in bed for long periods of time. [Husband] testified that these health issues interfered with [Wife]’s ability to parent for "40, 50 percent" of their relationship, leaving [Husband] to take on the role of primary caregiver for Son. [Husband] testified that he sometimes took Son to school, made meals for Son, and took Son shopping. [Husband]

testified that he regularly took Son to the pediatrician and dentist during his marriage to [Wife].

[Wife] denies that she has any mental health problems that have affected her parenting. [Wife] testified that she suffered from "situational depression" after discovering her father's dead body, and that she was prescribed an antidepressant around that time, but she no longer takes it. [Wife] also testified that she was prescribed 25 milligrams of Seroquel

— an anti-psychotic at much higher dosages — as a sleep aid. In a letter supporting [Wife]’s request to take a support animal on an airplane, [Wife]’s therapist stated that [Wife] suffers from depression. [Wife] testified that [Husband] had obtained a similar letter, and that the purpose of the letters was to facilitate traveling with their pets.

[Husband] testified that his work schedule during the marriage was erratic and that he worked forty to fifty hours a week, including nights and weekends. [Husband] testified that he sometimes had to travel for business, but not more than one day every couple of weeks. [Husband] testified that [Wife] took two or three vacations by herself every year for many years, and that [Husband] took care of Son during these times.

[Husband] testified that he had a good relationship with Son prior to the spring of 2015. [Husband] testified that he and Son would play baseball, ride all-terrain vehicles and dirt bikes together, and do "a lot of that kind of stuff." [Husband] also testified that [Wife] began turning Son against him prior to the dissolution of their marriage. [Husband] testified

that as "the disciplinarian," he was "vilified" and became "the common enemy" of Son and [Wife].

K.B. , supra , Op. at 653-56. In the prior appeal, we summarized the circumstances of the parties’ separation as follows:

II. Separation of [Wife] and [Husband]

In late 2014, the family began living in a house in Alton, New Hampshire that they had purchased the previous year. [Wife] testified that it was essentially a vacation house, whereas [Husband] testified that they had purchased the house with the intention of moving to New Hampshire. [Wife] testified that the family was vacationing at the new house in December of 2014 when [Husband] stated that he did not want to return to Maryland. [Wife] testified that she agreed to remain in New Hampshire for a six-month trial period. [Husband] testified that both [Wife] and Son were "on board" with the move.

[Wife] testified that she and Son were isolated and lonely in New Hampshire. [Wife] testified that the rural milieu made it difficult for Son to make new friends. [Wife] testified that [Husband]’s drinking and drug use escalated in New Hampshire, and that [Husband] would verbally abuse, bully, and intimidate Son and her. [Wife] testified that [Husband] would call Son "a disrespectful little punk" and tell Son that his opinion did not matter. [Wife] testified that [Husband] called her names and "physically intimidated" her in front of Son. [Wife] testified that Son did not like the way [Husband] spoke to her, which led to "many verbal go-arounds" between [Husband] and Son. [Wife] testified that Son would tell [Husband] "that he hated him and that he hated where we lived and he wanted to go home."

[Husband] testified that Son was excited to live in New Hampshire. [Husband] testified that the house was on a lake and five miles from a mountain, giving Son many opportunities to enjoy his favorite outdoor activities. [Husband] testified that Son enjoyed boating and fishing on the lake, and that Son frequently went snowboarding with friends. [Husband] testified that he often observed Son snowboarding with "huge smiles on his face." [Husband] testified that Son adapted to his new school, made friends, and ran track. [Husband] testified that the family joined a local church and Son befriended the pastor's son. [Husband] testified that Son was thriving in a clean, healthy environment, and that "by every account and every conversation I ever had with him, he was happy."

In May of 2015, [Wife] and Son took a 2–day trip to Maryland to attend a party in their old neighborhood.

During that trip, [Wife] decided that she and Son would not return to New Hampshire. [Wife] testified that Son asked her "why we were living in a place where we didn't want to be for someone that didn't treat us with kindness." [Wife] testified that "[a]t that point I realized I really had failed my son." [Wife] told [Husband], "I can't live here and [Son] and I are moving back to Maryland." [Husband] testified that he was shocked and asked [Wife] to stay. [Wife] and Son returned to New Hampshire for a short period so that Son could finish the school year before returning to Annapolis. [Husband] testified that he told Son he did not have to leave, to which Son replied, "Dad, you know, mom needs me."

[Husband] testified that his marriage to [Wife] was characterized by a pattern of separation and reconciliation. [Husband] testified that [Wife] had abandoned him and taken Son on three of four occasions prior to this, and that [Wife] had threatened to leave [Husband] many more times.

K.B. , supra , Slip Op. at 7-8.

Wife filed a Complaint for Absolute Divorce in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County on November 6, 2015. Trial was held over twelve days between June and September of 2017. On October 2, 2017, the trial court issued its custody order, which granted primary physical custody of Son to Husband during the school year and primary physical custody of Son to Wife during the summer break. The circuit court held the economic issues sub curia . On appeal of the custody order, we vacated the custody determination and remanded for further proceedings, including the appointment of a best interest attorney for Son and...