Thompson v. Thompson, 58153

• Decision Date: 13 April 1988
• Docket Number: No. 58153,58153
• Citation: 527 So.2d 617
• Parties: Novella H. THOMPSON v. Ray P. THOMPSON.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 617

527 So.2d 617

Novella H. THOMPSON v. Ray P. THOMPSON.

No. 58153.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

April 13, 1988.

Rehearing Denied July 20, 1988.

J.P. Coleman, Ackerman, Angelo J. Dorizas, Jackson, John W. Christopher, Canton, for appellant.

Barry W. Gilmer, Gilmer Law Firm, Jackson, for appellee.

Before HAWKINS, P.J., and PRATHER and SULLIVAN, JJ.

PRATHER, Justice, for the Court:

The central issue of this appeal addresses whether a chancery court may order a division of marital assets after denying both parties a divorce while granting the wife separate maintenance. The Chancery Court of Madison County denied both Novella H. Thompson and Ray P. Thompson their separate requests for a divorce, but granted Mrs. Novella Thompson separate maintenance and ordered division of their marital property.

Novella Thompson, the appellant, assigns the following as error:

(1) The chancery court erred in divesting appellant of her undivided one-half interest in real property.

(2) The chancery court erred in divesting appellant of $750,000 in certificates of deposit on deposit at Trustmark National Bank and adjudicating these certificates to be the property of appellee.

(3) The chancery court erred in failing to enter an order to compel discovery of appellee's assets.

(4) In the alternative, the chancery court committed manifest error in its division of the marital assets of the parties.

(5) In the alternative, the court's allowance of $2,000 per month as separate maintenance is so grossly inadequate as to shock the conscience.

I.

Ray P. Thompson and Novella H. Thompson were married on April 5, 1947 and separated on April 16, 1984. Two daughters were born to the marriage, Nancy--born February 12, 1948 and Barbara--born July 28, 1950. The Thompsons also adopted a son, Pat, who was born on July 2, 1959. Both of the girls born to the Thompsons suffered from Cystic Fibrosis from which illness Nancy died in 1972.

When Mr. Thompson entered into the marriage, the total value of all assets owned by him was approximately $1,500. The majority of those assets was comprised of $1,000 cash given to him by his father as a wedding gift. Mrs. Thompson was possessed of neither real nor personal property at the time that she entered into the marriage with the exception of modest clothing and personal items.

At the commencement of the marriage, Mr. Thompson earned $60.00 per week working in his father's automobile business in Morton, Mississippi. Mr. Thompson worked in various capacities, ranging from salesman to mechanic. Mrs. Thompson was unemployed at the commencement of the marriage and remained unemployed until 1963. In 1955, when Mr. Thompson's father died, the family automobile business passed to him and his brother. In 1957, Mr. Thompson conveyed his 50% interest in the family automobile business to his brother in exchange for $35,000. Mr. Thompson used these funds, together with an additional $30,000 borrowed from the First National Bank in Canton, Mississippi, to purchase the Latimer Ford business in Canton, Mississippi.

During the first five years Mr. Thompson operated the business, he worked extraordinarily long hours in all aspects of the business. By 1959, he had entered into the automobile leasing business and prospered at an unusual rate. While Mr. Thompson was involved in the Ford dealerships in Morton and, from 1958, in Canton, Mrs. Thompson cared for the children and attended to their medical needs. In 1963, Mrs. Thompson began working in the office of the dealership and continued to work there until 1980. From 1963 until 1979 Mrs. Thompson was not paid a salary for her work at the dealership. However, in 1978 she was started on a salary of $750.00 per month and up until 1980 she received a monthly salary which eventually grew to $1,000.00 a month. The dealership was dissolved in February, 1981.

Throughout the marriage, Mrs. Thompson's primary responsibility was the care and maintenance of the minor children of the parties. As a direct result of their illnesses, both Nancy and Barbara required special medications and substantial physical therapy each day. In addition, both girls were subject to extended periods of hospitalization. In 1963, in an effort to alleviate the stress experienced by Mrs. Thompson as a result of caring for the minor children, Mr. Thompson encouraged Mrs. Thompson to participate in the operation of the dealership. As the health of the daughters permitted, Mrs. Thompson would work up to 40 hours per week, closing the books of the business at the end of the month, doing odd filing, and replacing those clerical employees of Thompson Ford on temporary leave.

Although Mrs. Thompson received a salary only in the years 1978, 1979 and 1980, from 1963 until 1980, she received $1,500.00 per month as "rents", a new automobile each year, unlimited gasoline, other weekly sums of money, as well as automobile and medical insurance. For approximately ten to twelve years prior to 1980, Mrs. Thompson received a rent check in the sum of $1,500.00 per month in lieu of a salary. In addition, throughout the period during which Mrs. Thompson was employed by the dealership, Mr. Thompson gave her $100 to $300 per week additional compensation. Mrs. Thompson did not at any time participate in the operation of the leasing business.

While Mr. Thompson was engaged as the Ford dealer in Canton, he started Thompson leasing company, which leased trucks and cars to the Agricultural Cooperative Associations throughout a several state area surrounding Mississippi, with the program being administered primarily by Mississippi Federated Cooperative (hereinafter MFC Services). Mr. Thompson testified that he did very well financially in this endeavor and during the course of his association with MFC Services acquired a substantial amount of debentures in MFC Services. The certificate representing ownership of these debentures was in the name of Mr. and/or Mrs. Ray P. Thompson, as joint tenants with the right of survivorship.

Mr. Thompson would invest 50% of the profits derived from the leasing business in MFC debentures. The remaining profits derived from the business were deposited into Golden Savings Accounts which were styled "Mr. and Mrs. Ray P. Thompson and Nancy Thompson," "Mr. and Mrs. Ray P. Thompson and Barbara Thompson," and "Mr. and Mrs. Ray P. Thompson and Pat Thompson." In 1969, Mr. Thompson conveyed the leasing business to MFC Services in exchange for $60,000.00. He deposited the aforementioned $60,000.00 into the joint savings accounts described above. He deposited an additional $60,000.00 into the accounts when he sold a farm owned by him.

At the end of 1980, Mr. Thompson decided to liquidate the dealership and to sell off all of his assets. On June 1, 1981, Mr. Thompson received a check from MFC Services which represented the value of the debentures, less a discount for cashing them in early, in the amount of $378,708.16 payable to the order of "Mr. and/or Mrs. Ray P. Thompson, J.T.W.S." Mr. Thompson took the check and endorsed it for "deposit only Mr. and Mrs. Ray P. Thompson" and deposited the check to a joint account at the Mississippi Bank and on the same date wrote a check payable to himself in the same amount and used the money for his own purposes.

Mrs. Thompson withdrew the money in the joint savings accounts with Mr. Thompson and deposited the money in six Golden Savings Accounts at the First National Bank of Canton, which was to become a part of the Mississippi Bank of Jackson, and is now a part of the Merchants & Farmers Bank of Kosciusko. These Golden Savings Accounts were in the name of Novella H. Thompson, or Mrs. Ray P. Thompson and/or Barbara Thompson, with each account being opened on July 7, 1972 with initial deposits of $20,000.00 in each. Thereafter each account was increased through the compounding of interest and occasional deposits. In 1980, the total of the six accounts was approximately $180,000.00, at which time Mrs. Thompson withdrew those funds and transferred them to Trustmark National Bank of Canton (formerly Canton Exchange Bank), where the funds were invested in certificates of deposit in the name of Novella H. Thompson or Barbara Thompson with one or two of the CD's being in the name of Barbara Thompson or Novella H. Thompson. Mrs. Thompson continued to invest these funds during the high interest period of early 1980's with the interest, except for living expenses for Mrs. Thompson and her daughter, being compounded upon maturity of the respective certificates.

During the course of the marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Thompson acquired a 3 acre tract of real property upon which is situated part of the operation of the Ford dealership in Canton.

On October 30, 1984, Mrs. Thompson filed a complaint in the Chancery Court of Madison County, seeking a divorce, adjudication of ownership of debentures in the MFC Services valued at approximately $378,000.00, exclusive use and possession of the marital residence, or in the alternative, separate maintenance. Mr. Thompson filed an answer and counter-claim for divorce, seeking an order that Mrs. Thompson deliver ownership and possession of all of the marital assets to him, including $750,000.00 invested in CD's at Trustmark National Bank in Canton and certain items of jewelry. Alternatively, Mr. Thompson prayed that he be granted $500,000.00 in lump sum alimony.

Upon completion of discovery, the case was set for trial before the Chancery Court in Madison County and was tried over a period of five days on July 30, August 2, September 16 and 17, and October 29, 1985. The court found that the $750,000.00 on deposit at Trustmark National Bank in the name of Novella Thompson was the property of Ray P. Thompson; that the funds derived from the sale of the MFC Services debentures was the sole property of Ray P. Thompson; and that the three acre tract of land upon which a part of the Ford dealership is located was the sole property of ...