Leftwich v. Leftwich

• Decision Date: 05 February 1982
• Docket Number: No. 80-372.,80-372.
• Citation: 442 A.2d 139
• Parties: Paula Grace Phillips LEFTWICH, Appellant, v. Willie L. LEFTWICH, Appellee.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

442 A.2d 139

Paula Grace Phillips LEFTWICH, Appellant, v. Willie L. LEFTWICH, Appellee.

No. 80-372.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued November 18, 1980.

Decided February 5, 1982.

Nelson M. Oneglia, College Park, Md., for appellant.

Peter R. Sherman, Washington, D. C., for appellee.

Before KERN,^* HARRIS, and FERREN, Associate Judges.

HARRIS, Associate Judge:

The parties to this appeal were granted a divorce on the ground of separation for more than one year without cohabitation. The trial court denied the wife's (appellant's) claim for alimony, awarded her $5,000 in attorneys' fees, and ordered a distribution of the marital property conditioned upon the wife's signing joint federal income tax returns for two years during which she was married to her husband (appellee). The wife contends that the trial court abused its discretion principally in four areas: (1) in adopting verbatim the proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law which had been drafted by counsel for the husband; (2) in denying her claim for alimony; (3) in distributing the marital property; and (4) in conditioning her right to her share of the marital property upon her signing two joint federal income tax returns.¹ We affirm the trial court's order insofar as it denies alimony to the wife and awards her $5,000 from the husband toward her attorneys' fees.² We reverse the order insofar as it distributes the marital property and conditions the wife's award upon her filing joint federal income tax returns with her husband and remand the case for further proceedings.

I

The parties to this appeal were married in 1967. They separated in 1978. There are no children of the marriage. The husband is an attorney engaged in the practice of law; the wife is a school teacher employed in the public school system of the District of Columbia. The trial court awarded both parties a divorce on the ground that they had lived separate from each other for one year.

The trial court received proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law from both parties and adopted those submitted by counsel for the husband. Those findings were, among others, that the wife's position was tenured, that she was entitled to a pension upon retirement,³ that her income was about $22,200 annually, that she could increase her annual income by teaching or otherwise working during the summer months, that she was 36 years of age and in good health, and that she had been self-supporting by virtue of her income from the time of the separation. The court concluded from these findings that she had no need for alimony and denied her claim for it.⁴

The trial court apportioned the property acquired by the parties during their marriage as follows: (1) the wife received one of their automobiles and the husband received the other three; (2) the marital home, which was valued at about $150,000 with no mortgage outstanding, was ordered to be sold and the proceeds divided equally after a $17,000 tax liability had been satisfied; (3) the wife received all the furniture, crystal, silverware, and furnishings in the marital home (with the exception of several items which the husband had owned prior to the marriage or had received as a gift during the marriage), and her jewelry and furs; (4) the parties' credit union savings account was divided equally between them; (5) each party's separately titled cash accounts were awarded to the respective owner; (6) the husband received a house, its furniture and 15 acres of land located in Culpeper, Virginia;⁵ and (7) the trial court awarded the husband the interests in five separate partnerships of an investment or tax-benefit nature as well as various securities in his name which he had acquired prior to the marriage. Additionally, the husband was ordered to contribute $5,000 toward the payment of the wife's attorneys' fees.⁶

The trial court expressly conditioned the wife's receipt of her share of the marital property upon her filing an amended joint federal income tax return with her husband for the years 1978 and 1979. Such condition rested upon the court's finding that if the wife did not sign joint returns for those two years, the husband's additional tax liability would be about $40,000.

II

The wife contends that the trial court abused its discretion in adopting, as its own, the findings of fact and conclusions of law drafted by counsel for the husband. The trial court had requested that counsel for both parties prepare and submit proposed findings and conclusions, and the court then signed the husband's submission. While we have rejected objections to this practice in previous cases, we have held that a stricter standard of review is appropriate when the court adopts verbatim one party's proposed findings. Owen v. Owen, D.C.App., 427 A.2d 933, 937 n. 2 (1981); District Concrete Co. v. Bernstein Concrete Corp., D.C.App., 418 A.2d 1030, 1035 (1980); Turpin v. Turpin, D.C.App., 403 A.2d 1144, 1148 (1979); Sullivan v. Malarkey, D.C. App., 392 A.2d 1057, 1061 (1978). Accordingly, we have made a careful review of the record in order to determine if the findings of fact and conclusions of law represent the trial judge's own determinations rather than the advocacy of the prevailing party.

III

The wife contends that the trial court abused its discretion in denying her claim for alimony. The award of alimony is a matter committed to the sound discretion of the trial court, and its determination will not be disturbed on appeal absent a clear abuse of discretion. Brice v. Brice, D.C. App., 411 A.2d 340, 344 (1980); Moore v. Moore, D.C.App., 391 A.2d 762, 770 (1978); Finch v. Finch, D.C.App., 378 A.2d 1092, 1093 (1977). There are no fixed rules for determining if and in what amount alimony should be awarded. A general guideline is that alimony is intended to provide "reasonable and necessary" support to the recipient. McEachnie v. McEachnie, 216 A.2d 169, 170 (1966).

The record reflects that the trial court considered various factors in assessing the wife's need for alimony. Given the wife's demonstrated ability to earn income, her tenure at her present job, her good health and relative youth, the duration of the marriage, and the absence of any children, we are unable to say on the basis of the record before us that the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to award her alimony.⁷

IV

The wife also maintains that the trial court abused its discretion in apportioning the property acquired by the parties during the marriage. The trial court is accorded broad discretion in adjusting property rights of the parties incident to a divorce. Benvenuto v. Benvenuto, D.C.App., 389 A.2d 795, 797 (1978). The relevant statute provides that the court shall

distribute all other property accumulated during the marriage, regardless of whether title is held individually or by the parties in a form of joint tenancy or tenancy by the entireties, in a manner that is equitable, just and reasonable, after considering all relevant factors including, but not limited to: the duration of the marriage, any prior marriage of either party, the age, health, occupation, amount and sources of income, vocational skills, employability, assets, debts, and needs of each of the parties, provisions for the custody of minor children, whether the distribution is in lieu of or in addition to maintenance, and the opportunity of each for future acquisition of assets and income. The court shall also consider each party's contribution to the acquisition, preservation, appreciation, dissipation or depreciation in value of the assets subject to distribution under this subsection, and each party's contribution as a homemaker or to the family unit. [D.C.Code 1981, § 16-910(b).]

The requirement, then, is that the trial court consider all relevant factors and arrive at an "equitable, just and reasonable" division of the marital assets. The trial court expressly focused on just the husband's financial contributions to the acquisition of the marital property, without regard to any contributions by the wife or the fact that she was markedly less able to acquire assets given the parties' respective earning capacities.⁸ Moreover, although the statute requires the trial court to consider "whether the distribution [of property] is in lieu of or in addition to maintenance," the trial court made no mention when apportioning the marital property of the need to balance the fact that the wife was not awarded alimony. Because of the disproportionate award of the parties' property and the trial court's apparent failure to consider so many of the relevant factors set forth in the statute, we reverse the portion of the trial court's order distributing the marital property. On remand, the trial court will be able to set forth with more precision the factors it deems relevant in making its distribution.

V

Finally, appellant contends that the trial court abused its discretion by conditioning her receipt of her court-designated share of the marital property upon her signing two joint federal income tax returns.⁹ The trial court's order provided

that the Wife's receipt of the Shephard Street house sales proceeds, the Mercedes Benz, one-half of the Transportation Federal Credit Union account, and the contribution toward her legal fees be and they hereby are, expressly conditioned on the wife's cooperation in filing an amended 1978 joint federal tax return and timely filing a joint 1979 federal income tax return; it being understood that the Husband shall pay all additional taxes due on such returns.

While the order is couched in conditional terms, it is tantamount to a directive to the wife to sign the joint returns. Her failure to do so would preclude her from receiving any substantial interest in the marital estate. We find this portion of the order, being unquestionably coercive, to be erroneous as it exceeds both the mandate of the Internal Revenue Code provisions governing joint returns and the...