House Divided Equally Even Though Wife’s Parents Paid Mortgage

The wife in this Cheatham County, Tennessee, case filed for divorce, and the trial court declared the parties divorced.  It then referred the contested issues to a special master.

The husband was a salaried employee in the pest control industry, and earned more than the wife, who earned an hourly wage at a grocery store and later at a daycare center.  The wife’s parents encouraged her to go back to school, and paid off the mortgage balance of almost $100,000.  The wife, however, withdrew from school after only one semester.  The wife blamed this upon the husband’s “hidden addiction” to alcohol.

The parties agreed to sell their marital residence, but the parties couldn’t agree to a division of the proceeds.  The wife argued that she was entitled to credit for the substantial payment made by her parents, and that she planned to reimburse her parents.  But she admitted that the money was a gift and wasn’t supposed to be paid back.  The wife also asked for attorney’s fees.

The special master declined her requests.  She found that there was no evidence that the alcoholism necessitated the wife’s dropping out.  Her recommendation was to split the house proceeds equally, with both parties paying their own attorney’s fees.

The wife objected and argued that the payment from the parents was of the nature of a contract so that she could go to school, and that the husband’s alcoholism breached the contract.  The trial court adopted most of the special master’s report, with one exception:  The trial court allocated to the husband his own credit card debt.  The wife then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals,.  On appeal, the wife argued that the husband’s conduct amounted to disippation, due to his use of marital funds for alcohol and the resulting treatment.  But the appeals court held that these expenditures were not excessive.

The wife sought a more equitable division of assets, based upon her parents’ payoff of the marital debt.  But the appeals court found that the special master and lower court had applied the correct factors.

The wife also appealed the denial of her attorney’s fees, but the appeals court also found no error.

Overall, the appeals court found that the special master’s findings were supported by material evidence.  Therefore, there was no abuse of discretion in how the lower court made the division, and the appeals court affirmed.

No. M2024-00155-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 14, 2025).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see The Tennessee Divorce Process: How Divorces Work Start to Finish.

To learn more, see Property Division in Tennessee Divorce and view our video Is Tennessee a 50 50 divorce state?