Martin v. Martin
| Decision Date | 09 June 1982 |
| Citation | 415 So.2d 1120 |
| Parties | Rayford J. MARTIN v. Brenda MARTIN. Civ. 3132. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Civil Appeals |
Allen W. Howell, Montgomery, for appellant.
J. Tilden Dillard, Decatur, for appellee.
This is an appeal from a judgment confirming the sale of a home for division.
Rayford and Brenda Martin were divorced on January 18, 1978. The wife was awarded possession of the marital home until such time that she remarried, lost custody of her child, or the child reached age nineteen. Upon the occurrence of one of these events, the home was to be sold and the proceeds were to be divided between the parties.
On October 17, 1980 the husband petitioned to have the house sold because the wife had remarried. The circuit court entered an order allowing a private sale of the home. At this sale the husband and wife were the only bidders. The husband was highest bidder, offering $33,000 for the property. The husband, however, could not raise enough money to complete the sale, and as a result the court set aside the sale. Since the husband failed to raise the money to pay his bid, the court ruled that he could not bid in the subsequent sale.
A second sale was held on June 12, 1981. At that sale the wife made the highest bid on the property. Her bid was $15,600. The husband filed an objection to this sale in the circuit court on June 17, 1981. At the same time, the husband's brother-in-law, Charles Beddingfield, deposited $16,600 with the court to purchase the property. Later Beddingfield added $3,400 to this amount to make his total bid $20,000.
After a hearing on the merits, the trial court confirmed the sale to the wife on September 22, 1981. The husband filed a motion for new trial, which was deemed denied after the passage of ninety days. The husband then filed a timely appeal with this court.
The only issue is whether the trial court erred in failing to set aside the sale. We find no error and affirm the judgment.
The court in confirming the sale noted that the wife's bid was less than the fair market value of the property, but that it was not so low as to warrant setting aside the sale. The husband contends that the court erred based on the fact that his brother-in-law was willing to pay $20,000 for the property and based on the fact that the wife had previously bid $32,500 on the property.
None of the parties involved in this sale are strangers. The husband went to Beddingfield after the sale to the wife and asked him to bid on the property. The wife, also, was certainly interested in the outcome of the sale.
In Spence v. Spence, 239 Ala. 480, 195 So. 717 (1940), the standard for reviewing judicial sales when the purchaser is not a stranger was set forth. The court in Spence held that such a sale should be confirmed if the price bid is measurably adequate or not greatly less than the property's market value. The court held that even though...
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Samuel v. Mallory
...the market value of the property, but "whether [the] bid was so inadequate as to warrant ordering a new sale." See, Martin v. Martin, 415 So.2d 1120 (Ala.Civ.App.1982). It is obvious that this difference between his bid and the appraised value does not "shock the understanding and conscienc......
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Benavides v. Shenandoah Federal Sav. Bank
...Koay, 178 W.Va. at 283, 359 S.E.2d at 116. Other jurisdictions have adopted a similar approach to this issue. In Martin v. Martin, 415 So.2d 1120 (Ala.Civ.App.1982), for instance, a partition sale of a marital home was confirmed even though the wife's bid of $15,600 was only 48% of a previo......
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Koay v. Koay
...amounting to only 50% or less of the appraised or arm's length value have been upheld. For instance, in the case of Martin v. Martin, 415 So.2d 1120 (Ala.Civ.App.1982), the court upheld a cotenant's purchase of property at a partition sale for $15,600, although the property had originally b......
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