$500/Mo. Transitional Alimony + $54K After 2 Yr TN Marriage
Alimony Tennessee law case summary following 2 years of marriage. Tennessee divorce and family law from the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
Donald R. Bird v Pamela Stucky Bird – Tennessee Alimony Case – 2 year marriage.
In the divorce of Donald Bird and Pamela Bird, the court dissolved the marriage on stipulated grounds. The court provided the wife with alimony in solido as the result of her bringing liquidated assets to the marriage and on the loans made to the husband. The court awarded the wife transitional alimony. The husband appealed these decisions.
The two were married in April of 2002. This was the husband’s fourth and the wife’s third marriage. The husband filed for divorce in December 2004, after just over two years of marriage. The husband was 61 at the time of the divorce filing and the wife was 47.
Prior to being married, the wife owned a home in Orlando, Florida where she and her then 13-year-old son from a previous marriage lived. The couple agreed to sell this property so that the two could move in with the husband in his home in Cleveland, Tennessee. The wife made no claim to this property. The husband owned the property there as well as a second address where his business was located. The wife used her assets from the previous home to furnish the husband’s home.
The husband is self-employed and owns a fence company. He has a master’s degree. He earned $84,000 in 2001 and $66,700 in 2004. He had an estimated net worth of $85,000 at the start of the marriage and $25,000 at the end of it. The wife did not work outside the home but sold “Creative Memories” and “Pampered Chef” products earning about $1,500 per month until 2001. In 2001, she sustained injuries from an auto accident that left her hand requiring ongoing care. She was receiving rehabilitation treatments at the time of the divorce. At that point, she had limited use of her left arm and therefore was unable to work. She did receive about $6,000 per year for speaking engagements on behalf of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. At the time of her marriage, the $956 in Social Security survivor benefits she received stopped. The husband provided her a weekly $300 allowance for groceries during the marriage.
The wife received benefits from a personal injury settlement. She used it to repay some debts as well as to pay for gifts to the husband’s family and for their needs during the holidays in 2003 and 2004. In December of 2004, the wife told the husband funds had run out. He filed for divorce the same month. In October of 2002, the wife loaned the husband $8,000 for his business, of which $6,000 was repaid. In November of 2002, the wife wrote a check to the husband for $7,700, which the wife said were to pay the husband’s back taxes owed prior to their marriage.
On appeal, the husband claims the wife was not entitled to spousal support. The appeals court ruled that the award of alimony in solido to the amount of $54,527.51 is the lump sum representing the loss of the equity in the home she sold in Florida to move in with the husband as well as loans to the husband. The court noted that the wife’s financial position declined significantly during the marriage and thus required financial support. In terms of the transitional alimony, received at the rate of $500 per month for one year, the husband claimed the wife made no showing of being unable to work. Based on the law that states the wife should be provided compensation to allow her to move into her non-married life, the appeals court ruled that the wife’s lack of income and remaining assets warranted this award.
No. E2008-00269-COA-R3-CV, Filed August 27, 2009.
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
Memphis divorce lawyer, Miles Mason, Sr., JD, CPA practices family law exclusively and is founder of the Miles Mason Family Law Group, PLC, which handles Tennessee family law matters including divorce, child support, alimony, and alimony modification. The firm represents clients in Germantown, Collierville, and the surrounding west Tennessee area.
