Annuity Puchased by Tennessee Husband Determined His Separate Property
Tennessee law case summary on property division classification in divorce and family law from the Court of Appeals.
Willis Benjamin Willocks v. Irene Ward Willocks – Tennessee divorce classification of property as marital or separate
The parties were married in 1994, and each had children from a prior marriage. The husband had substantial assets before the marriage, and the couple lived mostly on the income from those assets. The wife earned about $30,000 per year. She deposited her earnings into her separate account, but did pay some marital expenses. She also provided health insurance through her employer.
They separated in 2007, and husband filed for divorce in 2009. The case went to trial in 2011. The trial court determined that the wife had taken $100,000 from the marital estate and squandered it. It awarded her approximately $383,000, which included the $100,000 she had already taken. The husband was awarded marital assets worth approximately $257,000.
The trial court also awarded the husband $685,000 as his separate property. This included an annuity valued at $202,000. The trial court also awarded the wife $900 per month alimony. Both parties appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals first considered all of the relevant factors and affirmed the amount of alimony.
The wife contended that the husband’s annuity should have been considered marital property. The husband purchased the annuity during the marriage in 2003, but used his separate assets. On appeal, the wife argued that the evidence was insufficient to show that the husband’s separate assets had been used to purchase it. The Court of Appeals, however, agreed with the trial court that separate funds had been used. It pointed out that, at the time, the wife’s income was being deposited into her own account, and there was no evidence that this account was used to make the purchase. The Court of Appeals also noted that the annuity was never placed in their names jointly. Therefore, the legal doctrine of transmutation did not apply.
Since it agreed with the trial court, the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment.
No. E-2012-00378-COA-R3-CV (Tenn.Ct. App. Jan. 10, 2013).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
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