TN Husband Jailed For Contempt After Dissipating Marital Assets

Tennessee law case summary on divorce in divorce and automatic injunction law from the Court of Appeals.

Priscilla Lee Slagle v. Lawrence Fred Slagle – Tennessee divorce mandatory injunction.

Priscilla and Lawrence Slagle were involved in divorce proceedings in 2009.  The husband was held in contempt for failing to comply with discovery requests and for dissipating marital assets.  He appealed the contempt finding to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, which affirmed.  The appeals court found that he had transferred almost a half million in marital assets after being served with the summons and complaint, and an additional $110,000 prior to the hearing.

The husband then fled the court’s jurisdiction, but was arrested in 2013.  The trial court in Cumberland County, Tennessee, found that he continued to be in contempt.  He requested rehearing, but took the Fifth Amendment regarding what had happened to the money.  The husband then filed a second appeal with the Tennessee Court of Appeals.  He first asked the court to consider some post-judgment facts concerning the case.  However, the Court of Appeals held that this would be improper, since the sole issue was the propriety of the finding of contempt when it was made.

The trial court had held that the husband could purge himself of contempt by paying $498,000, and the husband argued that there was insufficient evidence to show that he had an ability to pay this amount.  The Court of Appeals noted that the correct standard of review was whether the lower court had abused its discretion.

The trial court had based its finding on the fact that the husband had no credible proof as to what had happened to the money.  The trial court had found that the husband had no credibility, and the Court of Appeals noted that this finding needs to be given great weight on appeal.  Since the husband had the burden of proof to show his inability to pay, the appeals court found no reason to disturb the lower court’s judgment.  Accordingly, the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment, and remanded the case for collection of costs.

No. E2013-01480-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb 18, 2014).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.