Trapani v. Trapani, 48081
| Decision Date | 04 December 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 48081,48081 |
| Citation | 684 S.W.2d 500 |
| Parties | Ruth Susan TRAPANI, Petitioner-Respondent, v. Carmelo Mario TRAPANI, Respondent-Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Diekemper, Hammond & Shinners by John A. Turcotte, Jr., St. Louis, for petitioner-respondent.
Nicholas J. Riggio, Sr., St. Louis, and Gail N. Gaus, Clayton, for respondent-appellant.
Husband appeals from a decree of dissolution challenging the trial court's inclusion and division of certain assets as marital property. Husband states the trial court erred in the division of the marital property in failing to award him as his separate property: (1) the interest earned on inheritance money husband received during the marriage; and (2) the monies received from a settlement of husband's personal injury lawsuit for injuries incurred in an automobile accident during the marriage. We affirm the judgment.
The parties were married in 1954 and had two children, only one of whom was still a minor at the time the decree was rendered on August 5, 1983, dissolving the parties' twenty-nine year marriage. Both parties were employed during the early part of their marriage and at the time of the dissolution hearing. In 1964, during wife's second pregnancy, wife moved from the marital residence to her parents' home. At that time husband and wife also separated their finances. Wife returned to the marital residence a few weeks later where both continued to reside; however, they led separate lives from 1964 until their divorce, each paying his or her own personal expenses and keeping their property and finances separate. They shared payment of family expenses out of their separately managed funds. Throughout this period, husband used his wages to make the monthly loan payment on their residence, a duplex, until it was paid off in 1972. The down payment of approximately $15,000 was made on their residence in 1962 when the parties still maintained a joint account. Husband also collected the rental income from the upstairs apartment which they rented and he paid for all repairs, improvements, and expenses, including utilities, insurance, and taxes, on their property. Husband maintained his money in sundry separate accounts which he frequently closed and reopened elsewhere. Several of husband's separate accounts contained deposits of funds, excepting the personal injury settlement and inheritance he received during the marriage which were clearly marital in character, e.g. husband's wages, rent collected from the parties' jointly owned residence, dividend income from jointly owned stock, refunds from jointly filed income tax returns, and a portion of his retirement plan fund. At the time of trial, husband had consolidated all the funds from these separate accounts into one account in his name at Southwest Bank, amounting to $73,000. Of this $73,000, the trial court set aside husband's $25,000 inheritance as his separate property and held the remaining $48,000, including husband's $13,900 personal injury settlement, to be marital property which he divided evenly between husband and wife. Wife was awarded her separate property valued at approximately $30,200, including her inheritance from her father of stocks, notes, insurance proceeds, and an interest in real estate which she received during her marriage. 1 The parties' marital residence was ordered to be sold with the proceeds to be divided equally.
Initially, we recognize the standard governing our review: we must sustain the trial court's decree unless there is no substantial evidence to support it, unless it is against the weight of evidence, unless it erroneously declares or applies the law. Sturgis v. Sturgis, 663 S.W.2d 375, 379 (Mo.App.1983).
Husband's first point is that the trial court erred in not awarding husband as his separate property interest income earned on the funds he had inherited during the marriage. By the date of dissolution, husband had received $25,000 of his $50,000 inheritance in three separate installments: $5,000 in 1962; $10,000 in 1972; and $10,000 in 1977. From the dates of receipt to the date of the dissolution hearing, he deposited his inheritance money in several financial institutions in certificates of deposits or passbook savings held in his name only. Frequently, he would close out these accounts and reinvest the money with interest in new accounts. Thus, he argues the original inheritance was exchanged for different property numerous times and that any enhancement in value as a result of these exchanges is his separate property under § 452.330.2(2) RSMo Cum.Supp.1983. (Statutory references will be to RSMo Cum.Supp.1983 unless otherwise stated.)
Section 452.330.2 defines marital property as all property acquired subsequent to the marriage except:
(1) Property acquired by gift, bequest, devise, or descent;
(2) Property acquired in exchange for property acquired prior to the marriage or in exchange for property acquired by gift, bequest, devise, or descent;
(3) Property acquired by a spouse after a decree of legal separation;
(4) Property excluded by valid agreement of the parties; and
(5) The increase in value of property acquired prior to the marriage.
All property acquired by either spouse subsequent to the marriage and prior to the decree of legal separation is presumed to be marital property regardless of how title is held. Section...
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