Morris v. Morris
Decision Date | 10 May 1999 |
Docket Number | No. 2994.,2994. |
Citation | 335 S.C. 525,517 S.E.2d 720 |
Court | South Carolina Court of Appeals |
Parties | Patricia Riley MORRIS, Appellant, v. Ronnie Dean MORRIS, Respondent. |
J. Falkner Wilkes, of Meglic & Wilkes, of Greenville, for appellant.
Timothy L. Brown, of Greenville, for respondent.
In this divorce case, Patricia Riley Morris (Wife) appeals from the family court's award of equitable distribution and alimony. Wife also appeals from the family court's failure to order Ronnie Dean Morris (Husband) to pay child support for one of the parties' adult children. We affirm as modified.
The parties were married in September of 1966. They have four children, the youngest of whom was still a minor at the time of trial. The two oldest children have learning disabilities and reside with Wife in the marital home, along with the youngest child.
Throughout their marriage, Husband worked for Proctor and Gamble and provided almost all of the family's financial support. Due to opportunities for his career advancement, the family moved four times over twenty-six years. The final move was to Greenville, South Carolina, where the parties have resided since 1987. Wife primarily cared for the children when they were young, but was also employed sporadically and attended college at several different schools. At the time of trial, she lacked only seventeen credit hours to complete a degree in landscape architecture from Clemson University.
Wife brought this action against Husband in 1995 seeking, inter alia, a divorce on the ground of adultery, equitable distribution of marital property and debt, alimony, custody of the parties' minor child, child support for the minor child, and child support for two of the parties' adult children.
By order dated May 6, 1997, the family court granted Wife a divorce on the ground of adultery and awarded her custody of and child support for the parties' minor child, a portion of the marital estate, and $1,500 per month in alimony. The family court also awarded child support for Lee, one of the parties' adult children, but denied Wife support for Andy, another adult child. This appeal followed.
On appeal, Wife argues the family court erred in failing to award her child support for Andy. We disagree.
In September of 1993, Gary A. Jones, a clinical psychologist, evaluated Andy, who was twenty-four years old at the time of trial, to determine whether he suffers from a learning disability. Andy obtained an IQ score of seventy-five, which Dr. Jones testified "placed him in the borderline range of intellectual functioning ... between normal and retarded." However, Dr. Jones noted there was some indication Andy failed to "try as hard as he could on some parts of the test." Dr. Jones further noted Andy had scored higher on a previous IQ test. Dr. Jones also administered the Gates-McKinney test, which showed a fifth to sixth grade level for Andy's reading comprehension, with a considerably higher reading recognition score. According to Dr. Jones, Andy's compiled test results indicate he functions at a level below that properly classified as learning disabled.
Andy performed poorly in school and left high school at age twenty-one without graduating. He does not have a driver's license. Nonetheless, it is undisputed Andy works and can make financial contributions to his own support. At the time of trial, Andy had been employed on a full-time basis as a convenience store clerk for one and one-half years. His employment duties include working without supervision for eight hours at a time. Between May 1995 and December 1996, Andy earned $6.45 per hour and grossed $30,574.51.
South Carolina Code section 20-7-420(17) (Supp.1998), empowers the family court "to provide for child support past age eighteen where there are physical or mental disabilities of the child or other exceptional circumstances that warrant the continuation of child support beyond age eighteen for as long as the physical or mental disabilities or exceptional circumstances continue." Wife argues that Andy requires support in order to remain employed because she provides his transportation to and from work. This requires her to be available to drive him and thus precludes her from working herself.
We find this argument unavailing for several reasons. First, Andy has taken taxis to work when Wife was unavailable to drive him and is able to make those arrangements himself. Second, Andy earns enough at his job to be able to pay for transportation to and from work. He could pay his mother as easily as he could pay a taxi. Third, the support Wife argues Andy needs is not necessarily financial, but is rather general guidance in his daily life. While we do not know whether Andy is capable of living on his own, we do think he is clearly capable of contributing financially to his own support.
We note the marked difference between Andy's and his brother Lee's needs for financial support. Lee, who was twenty-three at the time of trial, suffers from severe emotional problems with a documented history of inappropriate social behavior. He has never had a job, has an explosive temper, and has difficulty completing routine tasks. Wife and Lee's sister testified that Lee engages in ritualistic behaviors from arranging the dishes in the dishwasher in a set manner to taking excessive time to sweep a floor. If interrupted in the middle of a task, Lee must start over from the beginning of the routine. At the time of trial, Lee's bed consisted of a sleeping bag on cardboard and carpet scraps he had placed over the joists in the attic storage space under the eaves of the home. The family court judge found Lee's limitations severe enough to order Husband to continue supporting Lee financially, and Husband does not dispute that obligation.
In contrast, Andy, while impaired, simply does not have limitations that prevent him from gainful employment outside the home. Under the facts and circumstances of this case, we are compelled to agree with the family court that Wife failed to establish exceptional circumstances sufficient to require Husband to support Andy. Clearly, Andy has demonstrated an ability, despite his learning difficulties, to support himself financially. We find no abuse of discretion in the family court's determination of this issue.
Wife next argues the family court erred in awarding her only forty-five percent of Husband's retirement account. Specifically, Wife asserts the family court failed to give adequate weight to her contributions to the marriage or Husband's fault in the breakdown of the marital relationship. We disagree.
"The doctrine of equitable distribution is based on a recognition that marriage is, among other things, an economic partnership." Mallett v. Mallett, 323 S.C. 141, 150, 473 S.E.2d 804, 810 (Ct.App.1996). Upon dissolution of the marriage, marital property should be divided and distributed in a manner which fairly reflects each spouse's contribution to its acquisition, regardless of who holds legal title. Id.
The apportionment of marital property is within the family court judge's discretion and will not be disturbed on appeal absent an abuse of discretion. Bungener v. Bungener, 291 S.C. 247, 251, 353 S.E.2d 147, 150 (Ct.App.1987). South Carolina Code section 20-7-472 (Supp.1998), lists fifteen factors for the court to consider in making an equitable apportionment of the marital estate. The statute vests in the family court the discretion to decide what weight should be assigned to the various factors. On review, this court looks to the overall fairness of the apportionment, and if the end result is equitable, that this court might have weighed specific factors differently than the family court is irrelevant. Johnson v. Johnson, 296 S.C. 289, 300-01, 372 S.E.2d 107, 113 (Ct.App. 1988). Our review of the record convinces us the family court's award to Wife of forty-five percent of Husband's retirement account is fair and equitable under the circumstances. Although fault is one factor for the court to consider in equitably dividing marital property, it does not justify a severe penalty. Noll v. Noll, 297 S.C. 190, 196, 375 S.E.2d 338, 342 (Ct.App.1988); Rampey v. Rampey, 286 S.C. 153, 156, 332 S.E.2d 213, 214 (Ct.App.1985); Gibson v. Gibson, 283 S.C. 318, 325, 322 S.E.2d 680, 684 (Ct.App.1984). The family court expressly considered several relevant factors in determining an appropriate division of Husband's retirement account, including the length of the marriage, the earning potential of each spouse, tax consequences, existence of other obligations, the ability of each party to meet their financial obligations and expenses, and that "[H]usband was at fault but not entirely in ending the marriage." In light of the family court's finding that Husband contributed almost all of the family's financial support during the marriage and contributed indirect support equal to Wife's indirect...
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