McKnight v. McKnight

• Decision Date: 27 February 2004
• Citation: 888 So.2d 1251
• Parties: Robert A. McKNIGHT v. Jayna M. McKNIGHT.
• Court: Alabama Court of Civil Appeals

888 So.2d 1251

Robert A. McKNIGHT v. Jayna M. McKNIGHT.

2021058.

Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama.

February 27, 2004.

David A. Simon of Wills & Simon, Bay Minette, for appellant.

Floyd C. Enfinger, Jr., Montrose, for appellee.

THOMPSON, Judge.

Jayna M. McKnight ("the wife") sued Robert A. McKnight ("the husband") for a divorce. In her complaint, the wife sought custody of the parties' three children, a property division, and child support. The trial court conducted a hearing on June 5, 2003, at which it received ore tenus evidence. On July 1, 2003, the trial court entered a judgment in which it divorced the parties; awarded the wife alimony and custody of the parties' children; ordered the husband to pay child support; and divided the parties' property. The husband timely appealed.

The record indicates that at the time of the June 5, 2003, hearing in this matter, the parties had been married for 22 years. The parties separated in August 2001. Three children were born of the parties' marriage; at the time of the hearing, the children were 18, 9, and 5 years of age. The husband has not appealed the trial court's award of primary physical custody of the parties' children to the wife. Therefore, we do not set forth in this opinion the testimony and evidence that were pertinent only to that issue.

The husband is a medical doctor; the wife graduated high school and attended college for one and a half years. The husband and the wife married shortly before the husband began attending medical school. The wife testified that she worked as a secretary during the time the husband was in medical school but that she has not worked in the 18 years since the husband's graduation from medical school.

In her complaint for a divorce, the wife alleged that the parties were incompatible. The record does not indicate what event, if any, precipitated the parties' separation. The evidence presented at the hearing indicates that the husband had a romantic relationship with a nurse ("the nurse") who works in the husband's medical practice. The wife did not allege that the husband's relationship with the nurse caused the breakdown of the parties' marriage. The husband refused to answer most of the wife's questions regarding his relationship with the nurse, citing as a basis for that refusal the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The husband "took the Fifth" with regard to all questions pertaining to his relationship with the nurse during the time before the parties' separation.¹ The record does indicate, however, that the husband spent money on the nurse during times that he claimed he could not afford to provide certain types of support for the wife and the parties' three children.

The wife admitted that she had a drinking problem during the parties' marriage and that she is a recovering alcoholic. The wife testified that she regularly attends Alcoholics Anonymous ("AA") meetings and that she last consumed alcohol approximately 10 years before the hearing in this matter.

The wife testified that she has no job skills but that she would like to return to college to become a teacher so that her work schedule would correspond to the times the parties' two younger children are in school. She asked the trial court to order the husband to support her while she obtains a college degree. The wife submitted to the trial court an exhibit showing her monthly budget of expenses totaling $3,750 per month. That budget did not include an amount for the payment of the credit-card indebtedness in the wife's name; that indebtedness totaled approximately $9,500. The wife testified that she had used the credit cards during the parties' separation and that the husband had promised to reimburse her for some of the charges she had made on her credit cards.

Since shortly after the parties' separation, the wife has been involved in a relationship with a man named Charles White. The wife met White through AA. The wife testified that White does not spend the night at her house when the children are present. However, according to the wife, White arrives at her home early each morning and stays until after the children go to bed.

The wife denied that she and White share expenses. The wife testified that the budget she submitted into evidence did not include any expenses that pertain to White. The wife admitted that White's cellular telephone is on her cellular-service bill, and she stated that White repays her for the cost of his cellular telephone.

The husband's income in recent years is as follows: in 1999, $147,702; in 2000, $132,907; and in 2001, $165,967. The husband's W-2 form for 2002 indicated that his income was $103,397. The husband testified that his 2001 income was "inflated" because he withdrew $20,000 from a retirement account to repay some debts and that withdrawal was treated, for tax purposes, as income. He admitted signing a financial statement that set forth his 2002 income as being $165,967; a note on the financial statement indicates that that figure is based upon the husband's 2001 income. The husband claimed that a bank officer filled out the financial-statement form and that he did not read it before he signed it.

In August 2002, the husband's two partners in his medical practice left the practice; the husband is currently the only doctor in that practice. In response to a question by the wife, the husband denied that the two doctors left the medical practice because they were not comfortable with his relationship with the nurse. The husband stated that, as a result of the other doctors' leaving, the expenses of the practice had increased and, therefore, his income has decreased.

At the June 5, 2003, hearing, the husband testified that since January 2003 he had received income from his practice based on a gross salary of $75,000 per year; he stated that his net income from that salary was $58,900 per year, or approximately $4,900 per month. The husband asked the trial court to "use the figure of $75,000 as [his] personal income for child-support purposes."

Counsel for the wife cross-examined the husband regarding his income based upon nine months of checking-account records during the period between May 2002 and May 2003.² Those records indicate that the husband made deposits during those months totaling $102,537, which resulted in average monthly deposits of $11,393 for those months.

The husband testified that in January 2003 he withdrew $4,960 from his retirement account to pay bills, and he stated that he deposited that amount in his personal checking account. However, deposits for the month of January 2003 are not included in the $102,537 in deposits discussed above. The husband stated that he "very rarely" paid personal expenses from his business account, but he admitted that he had paid from his business account a fee of $4,000 to his attorney. The husband also stated that he had to take funds from his savings, which was apparently his retirement account, in order to meet his court-ordered support obligations during the pendency of the divorce proceedings.

The wife presented evidence that the husband had withdrawn $19,725 from his retirement account in 2002 and that he had withdrawn another $17,050 from that account in 2003. In addition, the husband's business records indicate that as of October 31, 2002, he had withdrawn $54,100 in "advances" from his medical practice and that he had received loans from the practice totaling $6,200. It is not clear from the record whether the husband deposited those amounts into his checking account, i.e., whether those amounts were included in the nine months of deposits about which the wife had questioned the husband on cross-examination. The husband testified that he thought the $54,100 in advances from his practice was the total amount of advances he had received during the existence of the practice, as opposed to being the amount of advances he had received in 2002. Also, during the parties' separation, the husband sold a tractor for approximately $3,000; he testified that he used the proceeds from that sale to pay bills. In addition, the husband sold a boat shortly before the hearing in this matter; the husband did not testify regarding how much money he received from the sale of the boat.

The marital home is located on a five-acre parcel of property, and the parties also own a parcel (hereinafter "the second parcel") adjacent to the one on which the marital home is located. The husband testified, based on an exhibit he submitted into evidence, regarding the values of the parties' marital property. The husband estimated the value of the marital home and the land on which that home was located to be $275,000; he stated that that property is subject to mortgage indebtedness in the amount of $220,000 for a first mortgage and additional indebtedness, in the form of a second mortgage, in the amount of $21,000. The monthly payments on those mortgages are $1,800 and $600, respectively.

The husband valued the second parcel at $77,000. The second parcel is subject to the first mortgage on the marital home. The second parcel is also subject to additional indebtedness totaling $45,000; the monthly payment on that debt is $500. The husband indicated that there was no equity in the parties' vehicles and that the value of his retirement account was $49,974.12. The husband testified that his business liabilities outweigh his business assets.

The wife submitted as an exhibit a letter from the husband to her in which the husband listed the parties' assets and debts and assigned values to each. That letter is not dated, and the record does not indicate when the husband sent it to the wife. In the letter, the husband indicated, among other things, that the marital home was worth $250,000, that the second parcel was worth $100,000, and that the parties had $140,000 in savings. The husband indicated that the first mortgage on the parties' marital home was $200,000;...