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Dickinson v. Dickinson11/30/2001
DECISION AND JUDGMENT ENTRY
This appeal comes to us from a judgment of divorce issued by the Wood County Court of Common Pleas, Domestic Relations Division, involving a division of property and awards of spousal support and attorney fees. Because we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion, we affirm.
Appellant, Joanne M. Dickinson, and appellee, Lawrence C. Dickinson, were married in 1981; no children were born of the marriage. In February 1997, appellant moved out of the marital residence. In April 1998, appellant filed for divorce. A magistrate, in three separate hearings, made the following factual findings.
Appellant, at the time of the hearings, was forty-two years old and employed at the Medical College of Ohio ("MCO") as a nurse practitioner and organ transplant coordinator. She earned $58,600 per year in salary with an additional yearly bonus of $10,000 from a doctors' group at MCO. Her employment with MCO provides for pension benefits with the Public Employee Retirement System ("PERS"). Appellant testified that she had been recently treated for a uterine tumor and takes medications. Her treatments apparently do not substantially interfere with her ability to work.
Appellee, aged sixty-three at the time of the hearings, is unemployed. As a result of a back injury and subsequent surgery in 1981, appellee had become disabled. He received Social Security disability payments for several years which stopped when he became qualified for disability benefits from his pre-marital employment as a railroad clerk. In addition to his back disability, appellee is in poor health, requiring catheterization four times per month and the taking of various medications.
Appellee's gross monthly income from his railroad disability is $845. Appellee has no medical insurance coverage except for that provided through appellant, but will be eligible for Medicare health coverage at age sixty-five. At that time, appellee's disability income will convert to retirement payments. Appellee could earn an additional $400 per month before incurring any loss of his disability/retirement income.
Appellant testified as to the existence of various marital bank accounts. She acknowledged removing approximately $44,000 from her MCO credit union account, but, upon advice of counsel, re-deposited approximately $11,000. She further acknowledged that she had spent a large amount of marital funds when she moved from the parties' residence in early 1997. She stated that, in addition to other expenditures for clothing and household items, she spent $2,500 on a bedroom suite, $3,200 for stereo equipment, and $6,000 in computer equipment.
Initially, appellant could not account for any of the remaining funds that were missing from the MCO account, as well as certain bonus checks and several paychecks issued during the pendency of the divorce. Appellant testified that after she removed the funds from the credit union account, she transferred them to her own accounts and then to other bank accounts.
In a later hearing, appellant stated that she found three uncashed bank checks for $5,000 each which she had forgotten in a drawer. Those funds, as well as some of appellant's bonus checks were held in an attorney escrow fund, pending the conclusion of the divorce proceedings.
As a result of the hearings, the magistrate divided the marital property as follows:
Appellee/Husband
Marital Home $89,000
Truck 7,540
UT/MCO Cr.Union 10,507
Escrow account 15,748
Charter One acct. 6,189
Subtotal $128,984
Appellant/Wi
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