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In re Marriage of Ingalls12/30/2002
Kenneth Ingalls appeals the provisions of alimony and property division in the parties' divorce decree. AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED.
This appeal arises from the decision dissolving the marriage of Kenneth Morton Ingalls, petitioner-appellee, and Paula Ann Ingalls, respondent-appellant. Issues raised concern division of property and alimony.
The parties in this matter were married for thirty-three years. At trial time Kenneth was fifty-four years old and Paula was fifty-three years old. No children were born to the marriage. Kenneth has a B.A. degree and has a career as a sixth grade schoolteacher, coaches volleyball and golf, and works as a school bus driver. Paula earned her B.S. degree in elementary education and has had employment as a secretary, schoolteacher and guidance counselor. Kenneth's projected gross income is $45,112; Paula's is $28,277.
The parties' primary asset is their home. In 1976, they purchased a home for $23,000 that later sold for $38,000. Using the proceeds, they bought a home for $95,000, now worth about $130,000. Their net equity in the home is $77,000. Many other assets were divided by mutual consent or by court order about which no dispute remains.
The health of the parties bears on the court's decision. Kenneth has had good health over the years but had triple bypass surgery in October 2000. His recovery has been uneventful. Paula has had numerous debilitating medical problems over the years. She has had many major surgeries over her lifetime including one hundred hospitalizations, fifty of which were in the past ten years. She suffers from clinical depression, has a dissociative disorder resulting in her losing track of time or even days. Sometimes, she finds herself still at school at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning without remembering that people had left at 5:00 p.m. In order to hide this problem she keeps a change of clothing at school. These health problems have contributed or caused her to have thirty employment changes in thirty years.
Our review of the issues involved in this appeal is de novo. Iowa R. App. P. 6.4; In re Marriage of Wagner, 604 N.W.2d 605, 608 (Iowa 2000). The parties are entitled to a just and equitable share of the property accumulated though their joint efforts. In re Marriage of Miller, 552 N.W.2d 460, 463 (Iowa Ct. App. 1996).
The trial court awarded the home to Paula with the provision that she pay Kenneth $22,349. Payment would be required upon the first to occur: her death, remarriage, September 1, 2011 or refinancing the home. Paula has the right to pay Kenneth the $22,349 owed at anytime.
The court credited Paula with $2000, classified as gifted and inherited money received from her mother and the estate of her sister. Paula claims that the court did not consider the factors enumerated in In re Marriage of Liebich, 547 N.W.2d 844, 850 (Iowa Ct. App. 1996). She believes that in applying those factors she should be awarded more money. From 1978 to 1999, Paula's mother gave Paula money every year amounting to $35,000. Paula testified that these amounts were deposited in their joint bank account and used to defray household expenses and credit card debt.
Paula asks that she be credited with $25,000 instead of $2000 received during the year before the parties' separation. Of this sum, $17,000 came from a settlement of the wrongful death claim of her sister. She joins this claim with an assertion that she should not have to pay Kenneth $22,349 in property division of the home because of her substantial contributions to the marriage, her special health needs, or because the gifted property to her was not properly recognized.
We note that the gifted
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