Malkove v. Malkove
| Decision Date | 10 August 1977 |
| Citation | 349 So.2d 52 |
| Parties | Monita MALKOVE v. Bernard S. MALKOVE. Civ. 1104. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Civil Appeals |
Edward B. McDermott, Mobile, for appellant.
Maury Friedlander of Marr & Friedlander, Mobile, for appellee.
This is a divorce case.
The wife, plaintiff below, appeals from the trial court's division of property and award of periodic alimony.
The record reveals the following:
Appellant-wife was 20 years of age and appellee-husband was 23 years of age when the parties were married in 1954. They had been married 22 years at the time of trial.
The parties lived together in Mobile from 1964 until the time of their separation in 1975, when the wife returned to her home town of Denver, Colorado, to live. The husband continued to reside at the parties' home on Marquette Drive in Mobile.
The husband is the principal stockholder of Gulf States Beauty Supply Company, Inc., owning approximately 85% of the stock of this business. Exhibits introduced by the wife disclose gross sales for the business were slightly in excess of $1,000,000 in both 1974 and 1975. The sum profit for the business in both years was approximately $4,000.
The parties' income tax returns revealed the husband's average annual income for the three years preceding the divorce to be approximately $36,000. Of this amount, $21,000 consisted of wages and $7,000 was office rental fees, both paid by Gulf States Beauty. The remainder of the $36,000 was attributed to investment income and the sale of various investment properties.
A personal financial statement of the husband dated June 1, 1976, valued the husband's assets at $375,000. Total liabilities were $96,000. Thus, his total net worth was $279,000.
Viewing the evidence with the attendant presumption of correctness, the husband's assets consisted of $3,000 cash, $46,000 marketable securities, $179,000 nonmarketable securities, $105,000 real estate, and $22,000 in real estate equities of which he was a partial owner. The remaining $20,000 consisted of $15,000 in automobiles and personal property and $5,000 cash value of life insurance. The $105,000 in real estate included business property which Gulf States Beauty leased from him and the parties' home. The business property was valued at $40,000.
The wife estimated the value of the parties' residence at $80,000. At the time of trial, $28,000 remained to be paid on the mortgage.
The parties have three children. Cynthia, a graduate of the University of Tennessee, was employed by an accountant and lived with her father, appellee herein, at the house on Marquette Drive at the time of trial. Brian, who was 18, had just begun attending the University of Colorado in Boulder. Teddy, 11, was in Denver with his mother, appellant herein.
The wife had completed three and one-half years of college prior to the marriage. She had not been employed since the couple's marriage except occasionally at Gulf States Beauty. She stated that she had a learning disability; that she had had two nervous breakdowns in previous years; and that she was still taking medication for her nervous condition.
She also testified that she had no separate estate of her own; that she needed approximately $2,700 per month for living expenses in Denver; and that she eventually hoped to obtain employment as a therapist to persons with learning disabilities. Her debts at the time of trial totaled $6,400.
The husband, defendant below, stated that he was sending his son, Brian, to the University of Colorado at a cost of approximately $2,500-$4,800 annually.
Both parties stated there was no chance of reconciliation between them.
In December, 1976, the trial court granted the divorce sought by the wife and awarded to her custody of the 11 year old son. The court divided the personal property between the parties and ordered the husband to make the following payments: $200 per month periodic alimony; $450 per month child support payments for the minor child; $1,350 for the wife's $6,400 in debts; $2,500 for the wife's attorney's fees; and court costs.
Additionally, the decree required the husband to pay to the wife as alimony in gross the sum of $80,000 over a period of ten and one-half years. The wife was ordered to convey to the husband her interest in the residence located on Marquette Drive in Mobile. The husband retained title to the marketable and nonmarketable securities and the business properties.
The court decree recognized that the husband was paying the university expenses for one of the parties' children and also made the husband liable for any "extraordinary medical and dental expenses" for the minor child.
As previously stated, the wife contends the trial court erred to reversal in its division of property and in its award of periodic alimony.
She recognizes that there is no fixed standard for determining the proper amount of periodic alimony to be awarded and that future prospects of the parties, their ages, sex, health and station in life are appropriate factors to be considered in fixing the amount of alimony payments. See Segars v. Segars, Ala.Civ.App., 334 So.2d 684 (1976). She contends that evaluation of the preceding factors, in conjunction with her testimony stating a need of $2,700 per month, compels a conclusion that the trial court erred in ordering the husband to...
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