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Collins v. Collins12/21/2004
Submitted on Briefs: August 11, 2004
Appellant Lonnie D. Collins (Lonnie) appeals from the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law entered by the Thirteenth Judicial District Court, Yellowstone County, awarding marital assets to his former spouse, Gail N. Collins (Gail). We affirm.
We restate the following issues on appeal:
1. Whether the District Court erred in determining the value of the marital estate.
2. Whether the District Court erred in distributing the marital estate.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Gail and Lonnie were married on December 31, 1972, in Billings, Yellowstone County. At the time of the dissolution, the parties had been married nearly 32 years. When they were first married, Lonnie was working as a switchboardman for Burlington Northern Railroad and Gail briefly worked two jobs at El Café and Montgomery Wards in Billings, Montana.
In 1973, the parties moved to Laurel and purchased a house and three lots with joint assets. Between 1973 and 1978, Gail maintained and renovated the house as well as cared for Lonnie's mother as she battled with Alzheimer's disease. Gail also cared for three of Lonnie's children from another marriage during the same time period.
In 1979, Lonnie was injured in a railroad accident and received a $135,000 settlement in a claim against Burlington Northern. The proceeds of that settlement were used to purchase and move another house from Billings onto the lot in Laurel where their existing house was situated. The existing house and the new house were joined together at that time.
The couple also used the proceeds to set up an antique business, Blue Bell Businesses (Blue Bell), in the back portion of the new house. Although Blue Bell was set up as a de facto partnership, Gail eventually ran Blue Bell as a sole proprietorship and Lonnie operated a separate sole proprietorship selling antiques called Frogfur Businesses (Frogfur) under the business license for Blue Bell. Both Gail and Lonnie earned money from their respective businesses and expended the same on the real property, each other and the businesses. Lonnie also received auctioneer work after graduating from the Western College of Auctioneering in the 1980s. Gail had no other source of income.
On July 5, 2002, Lonnie obtained Gail's keys to the premises and locked her out of the residence. Barring her from the house, Lonnie forced Gail to move out of the residence and into the office/storeroom of Blue Bell. About a week later, a physical altercation ensued between Lonnie and Gail over Gail's alleged removal of certain items from the premises. The police responded to the situation and Gail was taken to the YWCA Gateway House. On July 29, 2002, Gail obtained a temporary order of protection against Lonnie.
On August 8, 2002, Lonnie and Gail signed documents prepared by a certified public accountant, Steven Cosner, entitled, "Joint Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, Declaration of Assets, Liabilities, Income and Expenses." The couple also signed a quit-claim deed transferring interest in the residence from Gail to Lonnie. Lonnie's disclosure in the documents did not include Frogfur's value and Gail did not have any input in their preparation.
Upon review of the documents, Gail called Lonnie to inform him the documents did not accurately depict the property in her possession. Lonnie replied the documents had to appear equal in order to secure a divorce . Gail went ahead and signed the documents which were subsequently notarized.
On August 9, 2002, Lonnie filed the joint petition for dissolution in Yellowstone Cou
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