Montgomery v. Montgomery
| Decision Date | 24 May 2022 |
| Docket Number | 2020-CP-01135-COA,CONSOLIDATED WITH NO. 2017-CP-00632-COA |
| Citation | 339 So.3d 819 |
| Parties | Mary MONTGOMERY, Appellant v. Glen W. MONTGOMERY, Appellee |
| Court | Mississippi Court of Appeals |
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: MARY G. MONTGOMERY (PRO SE)
ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE: MARK V. KNIGHTEN, STEVEN JAY MILLER, Gulfport
BEFORE WILSON, P.J., McDONALD AND SMITH, JJ.
McDONALD, J., FOR THE COURT:
¶1. Mary Montgomery challenges the Jackson County Chancery Court's April 12, 2017 judgment granting her ex-husband Glen Montgomery a divorce on the ground of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment and the chancery court's September 10, 2020 judgment concerning the division of the parties’ assets.
¶2. After bifurcating the divorce action, the chancery court first rendered a judgment of divorce, which Mary appealed. This Court dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction because the judgment of divorce was not final and appealable. After the entry of the chancery court's final judgment adjudicating the equitable division of the parties’ property, Mary filed a second appeal, raising numerous issues. The Mississippi Supreme Court consolidated Mary's first appeal with her second one for purposes of the record. After reviewing the issues, we affirm the chancery court's judgment of divorce and final judgment regarding the division of property and other financial matters.
Facts
¶3. Mary and Glen were married on April 12, 1986. They had two children who were both adults and emancipated at the time of the divorce. The parties separated on December 11, 2011. Glen worked at the Moss Point Fire Department and for Jackson County. Over the years, Mary had worked as an office manager, as a clerk in an optometrist's office, and as a sitter/companion to several elderly individuals. Together Mary and Glen owned a commercial building in Moss Point, which they rented out, and two other residential rental properties. After their separation, Mary remained in the marital home which was later damaged in Hurricane Isaac. The bank then foreclosed upon the home because the parties failed to make repairs.
¶4. About eight months after the separation, Mary filed for divorce against Glen on the ground of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment. A trial was held on March 20, 2014. After hearing Mary's proof, the chancellor dismissed her complaint and Glen voluntarily dismissed his counterclaim.1 The parties remained legally married but separated.
¶5. On July 14, 2016, Glen filed a complaint for divorce against Mary in the Jackson County Chancery Court. Glen alleged as grounds Mary's habitual cruel and inhuman treatment as well as desertion and sought an equitable division of the property that the parties had accumulated during their marriage. Mary answered the complaint pro se, raising a variety of issues, such as the medical bill she incurred when Glen had her placed in the psychiatric ward of the local hospital. However, Mary answered with no specific denial of Glen's grounds. Nor did she file a counterclaim for divorce.
¶6. Because Glen had asked for temporary relief, on August 24, 2016, the special family master and chancery court judge entered an order allowing the parties to sell items they jointly owned if they agreed. If they could not agree on the distribution of the resulting funds, they were to deposit them into the registry of the court.2
¶7. On August 31, 2016, Mary filed a "Motion for Replacement of Name on Medical Bills," in which she sought to have the medical bills she incurred from her hospital stay in the psychiatric ward put in Glen's name because he had caused to her to be picked up by the Sheriff and hospitalized.
¶8. The chancery court bifurcated the trial on the issues, with no objection from the parties. First, the court heard evidence on the grounds for divorce on April 12, 2017. At the trial Glen was represented by counsel; Mary represented herself. Glen testified that he and Mary had their ups and downs during the marriage, but that in the last few months of 2011, Mary would get upset about everything—her hair, her clothes, etc. She was taking Adderall at the time as well as Ambien
to help her sleep at night. At Thanksgiving, when Glen asked when they would get together with his family, Mary told him that his family was no longer welcome in their home, especially his mother. Glen testified that on December 6, 2011, Mary ran him out of the house after "going ballistic" over a judgment rendered against him personally, which Glen had been paying. Glen said Mary had been upset about that, but in December 2011, she was more than upset—she started throwing things at him and threatened to kill him. Because there were loaded guns in the house, Glen testified that he became afraid and left the home. After he left, he contacted Mary's family, and they tried to talk to her without success. Glen stated:
They talked to her, but the next day Mary called her mom and said, and she called the next-door neighbor and, I believe -- she told me the FBI, that her mom and them tried to kidnap her and go put her in the psych ward, that she had to fight them off and beat them up and it was a terrible scene.
Glen ended up signing papers to have Mary transported to a hospital to be evaluated. Glen testified that he had tried to get Mary to see a marriage counselor or priest as well, but she refused.
¶9. Glen further testified that several years after the separation, during the pendency of Mary's first divorce complaint, she had gone to the sheriff's department and tried to file charges against him for rape. Glen said that he worked for the fire department and that Mary's charges could have affected his job.
¶10. Glen testified that Mary continued to live in the marital home after the separation. After Hurricane Isaac, the home flooded, but Mary did nothing to repair it even though they received insurance money to do so. Glen said that the bank eventually foreclosed on the home to protect its asset because no repairs had been done.3 The Bank then sued both him and Mary on the deficiency owed after the home had been auctioned.
¶11. In her cross-examination of Glen, Mary said she had become angry with him for having so many judgments against him, and on December 6, 2011, she told him to leave. She admitted during her questioning that she had kicked Glen out of the home "because of all the lawsuits." She denied that Glen had proposed seeing a counselor or that she had threatened to kill him. A review of the transcript of the divorce hearing shows that most of Mary's "questions" were statements. Although the hearing at that point concerned the grounds of divorce, Mary brought up matters concerning the marital property, her lack of a home to live in, and her need for spousal support. When the court attempted to direct Mary in proper questioning, Mary was not attentive to the court. Despite the wide latitude given her by the chancery court, Mary further questioned Glen about money given to his mother, about who paid for his parents’ funeral expenses (and how), and about Glen's sale of the lawn care business.
¶12. Glen's corroborating witness was his neighbor Tonya Lynd. She testified that she had known both parties for twenty-three years. She said that on the day after they separated, Mary called her and said that she had told Glen to leave. Tonya also said that sometime soon after the separation, Mary had told her that she wished she could shoot Glen. Tonya also testified about a time after the house had flooded that she received a call from another neighbor saying that she might want to check on Mary. Tonya found Mary loading her vehicle with items, like a swing and other boxes. Mary said she did not think she would see her youngest son graduate because of the pills she had taken. Mary was dry-heaving and, given the circumstances, Tonya called the police. The Jackson County Sheriff's Department investigative report that verified Tonya's testimony about the incident was entered into evidence. Tonya also testified that she saw Mary's brothers and sisters trying to get Mary into a car.
¶13. During her cross-examination of Tonya, Mary admitted to the court that she had taken six Ambien
pills at the time Tonya called the police. She told the chancery court that she did this so that she could sleep for two days. Mary asked Tonya if she remembered how Mary had asked her if she would go to the fire station to meet Glen and get Mary's half of the tax refund. Tonya said she vaguely remembered this. Tonya did admit that she was surprised when Glen had Mary committed to the psych ward for evaluation.
¶14. After hearing testimony, the chancery court ruled from the bench and granted Glen a divorce on the ground of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment. Mary voiced no desire to enter any further evidence on the issue of the divorce. The court then began hearing testimony on the issue of the division of the property of the parties.4
¶15. Glen testified that the parties owned a commercial building in Moss Point, valued between $150,000 and $175,000, on which $122,000 was owed. He testified about two other residential properties: a house located at 500 Maid Marion that he valued at $54,000, on which $22,000 was owed, and a house located at 9740 Wilkerson Lane that was presently on the market for $81,000. Glen thought it might sell for $79,000, but it had a $52,000 mortgage.
¶16. Glen testified that the only other assets of the parties included his 2014 Toyota Camry which he valued at $14,000, on which he still owed $15,000, and Mary's 2006 Ford Taurus that was paid for and worth $4,000 to $5,000. Glen testified that he had a PERS (State employee) retirement account that had $61,000 in it at the time of their separation in 2012; it was worth approximately $89,000 at the time of the trial.5 Mary had an IRA account with $3,000. There were no other assets, other than a 12-gauge Remington shotgun, an old Winchester rifle, and two handguns (a Smith...
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