Smith v. Smith

• Court: Supreme Court of Kentucky
• Writing for the Court: MILLIKEN
• Citation: Smith v. Smith, 436 S.W.2d 532 (Ky. 1969)
• Decision Date: 24 January 1969
• Parties: Mary Frances SMITH, Appellant, v. Charles SMITH, Appellee.

Page 532

436 S.W.2d 532

Mary Frances SMITH, Appellant, v. Charles SMITH, Appellee.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

Jan. 24, 1969.

Boyd F. Taylor, Hamm, Taylor & Milby, London, for appellant.

J. B. Johnson, Jr., Williamsburg, for appellee.

MILLIKEN, Judge.

After twenty-five years of marriage and three children who were twenty, eighteen, and nearly ten years of age, respectively, the wife, Mary Frances Smith, obtained a divorce from her husband, Charles Smith, on the basis of cruelty for six months (KRS 403.020(4)) and was awarded custody of the minor child and $100.00 a month for his support. The Chancellor also awarded her $5,000.00 alimony, $2,000.00 to be paid at the time of the divorce, the use of the home until the minor child reached his majority, and title to the household furnishings which were valued at $3,000.00 and which amount was credited on the $5,000.00 lump-sum alimony awarded. The husband had counterclaimed for divorce and custody of the little boy, but abandoned it by taking no proof to support it. The issues on this appeal involve the value placed on the husband's estate and the propriety of the restoration of the fee simple title to the home to the husband.

The Chancellor found that the fair appraisal of the husband's property, including his automobile and the home and its furnishings was $22,420.00, but that he owed $11,302.00 which left his net worth $11,117.00; that his net earnings for each of the three years immediately before was approximately $4,722.00 a year. The wife asserts on this appeal that the $14,500.00 valuation placed on the home (which was its cost) fails to take into consideration the increased value of real estate in the community. The tax valuation on the property was $12,000.00 and the husband opined that it was north $14,000.00 to $15,000.00. We think it clear that there was substantial evidence to support the Chancellor's conclusion on this issue, and we are offered...