Property Split Goes Badly When Judge Does Not Believe TN Husband

Tennessee law case summary on property division in divorce and family law from the Court of Appeals.

Stephanie Trego McCoy v. Steven McCoy  – Tennessee divorce classification.

Stephanie Trego McCoy and Steven McCoy were engaged in 1996 after dating in high school.  After high school, the husband got a job for the Lenoir City Utilities Board, and the wife studied elementary education at the University of Tennessee.  The wife’s father found a house for the couple in Lenoir City.  The purchase price was $32,500, and the husband paid about $16,000 as the down payment.  The wife later contended that she paid about $8000 toward improvements and some furniture.  They worked together to do some improvements, and in 1997 they were married.

When they married, the wife was only short about 14 credits to graduate, but at the husband’s urging, she didn’t finish her degree.  Instead, she did childcare at their home.  The childcare income was never reported.

A girl was born in 1999 and a boy in 2001.  At that time, they took out a loan against their house to buy a new home, and they rented out the original house.

The marriage began to sour in 2009.  The wife attributed this to the husband’s drinking, gambling, and staying out all night for days at a time.  She testified that he sometimes became verbally and physically abusive.  They separated in 2011.  The wife stayed in the marital home, and the husband resided with his girlfriend at her home.  In 2011, the wife filed for divorce in Loudon County, Tennessee, and trial was held in 2012.

The trial court granted the wife a divorce on the grounds of adultery.  According to the trial judge, “the proof as to grounds is not even close.”  The judge also stated that he didn’t believe the husband on any contested issue:  “I simply do not believe anything that man has got to say, and that’s putting it mildly.”

The trial court found that the original house was marital property, and ordered it sold at auction.  The balance was to pay off a Chase Credit Card in the amount of $19,000.  The wife received the newer house, and she was made responsible for the mortgage.

Sorely disappointed with how the whole thing had turned out, the husband appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.  He raised a number of issues, including the classification of the parties’ property.

The husband argued that the first house should have been his separate property, because he made the significant down payment.  The court first noted the general rule that property purchased before marriage in anticipation of serving as a marital residence is normally joint property, in the absence of evidence showing an intent to keep it separate.

The house was titled in the husband’s name alone.  However, the Court of Appeals was quick to point out that the parties had selected it together, and they didn’t move into the house until the wedding.  The wife contributed labor and some savings in making improvements prior to the marriage.  The mortgage was paid with marital funds.  The husband never expressed any intent to keep the property separate until after the marriage fell apart.  Therefore, the Court of Appeals held that the evidence supported the trial court’s finding that it was joint property.

The Court of Appeals took a close look at the alimony and property division and also concluded that the trial court did not commit any error.  Similarly, the award of attorney fees to the wife was upheld.

The Court of Appeals was somewhat sympathetic to the husband when it came to the parenting plan.  It agreed that he should receive a bit more time with his children, and the court remanded the case to modify the parenting plan.

For these reasons, the Court of Appeals affirmed, but remanded for modifications to the parenting plan.

No. E2012-02698-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Nov. 4, 2013).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

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