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Dudley v. Dudley9/28/2000
This case involves an appeal from the trial court's property distribution decision in a divorce which ended a nine year marriage. Bobby G. Dudley, II ("Husband") appeals the award of the marital residence and its contents to Sandra Elizabeth Dudley ("Wife"). He also appeals the court's decision not to provide him with any part of Wife's retirement plan. For the following reasons, we affirm.
I. Background
The parties were married in 1989 and separated in 1997. They have two children, a girl, born in 1989 and a boy, born in 1996.
The parties purchased the marital residence in 1990. Their home contained apartments, and Wife assumed the responsibility of renting out those apartments during the marriage. Wife and the children moved out in 1997, leaving Husband in the home. For seven or eight months during the separation, Husband did not rent the apartments, and, according to his testimony, he only made one mortgage payment. Wife testified that she made all the mortgage payments on the marital residence during the marriage. The marital residence had equity of approximately $47,000 at the time of the trial.
Wife worked for the same employer throughout the marriage. Husband was employed at the time of the marriage, but stopped working regularly in 1991. He received a worker's compensation settlement of $35,000 early in the marriage and by the time of the trial he had $15,000 to $16,000 remaining. The record does not reveal the reason for the settlement. Thus, although we can assume Husband sustained a work-related injury at some point, we do not know the extent of the injury, nor whether Husband fully recovered. Evidence showed that Husband went fishing and patronized a "lounge" where he bet on football games while unemployed. Although Husband was not working, his mother cared for the children while Wife worked, and a neighbor met the older child when she got off the school bus.
The trial court found that Husband physically abused his wife and choked another woman. The court also found that Husband was arrested for marijuana use and that he was arrested twice for assaulting other people. The court found that Husband underwent counseling, but refused to take his prescribed medication.
The trial court awarded Wife a divorce on grounds of Husband's inappropriate marital conduct. Wife was awarded custody of the children and Husband was ordered to pay $60 per week in child support . The court awarded the marital residence, including all household furniture, utensils, and appliances to Wife, along with the corresponding debt on the residence. Each party retained his or her own vehicle, and Husband was awarded the Skeeter boat; each of those items was awarded subject to any debt on it. Husband was awarded the certificates of deposit which represented the balance of his worker's compensation settlement. Wife was ordered to pay certain credit card debts, and Husband was ordered to pay one credit card debt and any debt owed to his parents.
Husband appeals the awards of the equity in the marital residence, all household contents, and Wife's retirement plan to Wife, claiming the division of marital property was not equitable.
II. Standard of Review
We review the findings of fact by the trial court de novo upon the record of the trial court, accompanied by a presumption of the correctness of the findings, unless the preponderance of the evidence is otherwise. See Tenn. R. App. P. 13(d). Because the trial judge is in a better position to weigh and evaluate the credibility of the witnesses who testify orally, we give great weight to the trial judge's findings on issues involving credibility of witnesses. See G
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