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In re Marriage of Martinez9/14/2005
Linda Martinez appeals the alimony and property division provisions of the decree dissolving her marriage to Vincent Martinez. AFFIRMED.
Considered by Vogel, P.J., and Miller and Hecht, JJ.
Linda Martinez appeals the alimony and property division provisions of the decree dissolving her marriage to Vincent Martinez. She contends the court erred in not awarding her permanent alimony in a greater amount, in not giving her credit for the assets she brought into the marriage through the sale of real estate and inheritance, and in the division of the parties' personal property. We affirm.
I. BACKGROUND FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
The parties were married June 4, 1989. No children were born of the marriage. Vincent filed a petition for dissolution of marriage on March 4, 2004, and a hearing was held on the petition on August 5, 2004. The record reveals the following facts.
Vincent was sixty-three years of age and recently retired at the time of trial. Prior to retiring he had worked as a laborer for forty-one years and was with the laborers' union that entire time. He was married to Linda for the last fifteen of these forty-one years. Vincent was entitled to a laborers' union pension in the gross amount of $3,586 per month, a portion of which went to a former spouse from a marriage prior to his marriage to Linda, resulting in Vincent receiving gross pension benefits of approximately $3,000 per month. Vincent was receiving gross social security benefits of $1,220 per month. After income taxes Vincent had net combined pension and social security benefits of approximately $3,200 per month.
Linda was sixty years of age and unemployed at the time of trial. She had worked full-time for the majority of the parties' marriage in secretarial positions. At her last job she earned approximately $10.25 per hour. While employed in her last job she sustained a work-related back injury, a herniated disk for which she had surgery and received workers' compensation benefits of approximately $1,200 per month until April 2004. Her job was eliminated as part of a "cutback" by her employer. At the time of trial Linda stated she was able to work with some restrictions and was actively looking for work but had been unsuccessful in securing employment. Linda also testified that she had some prior training as a real estate agent but she would have to get more training to get recertified due to the time that had elapsed since her prior training. She would then have to take a test before she could get her real estate license.
Just prior to the parties' marriage Linda sold a home she owned in Des Moines and received approximately $22,000 profit from the sale. She and Vincent then purchased their first home in Des Moines together. She testified that a portion of the money she received from the sale of her home went for the $2,500 down payment on their new home, and a portion went for extensive repairs and renovations to the home. Linda also received an inheritance from her mother of approximately $45,000 in 1992. She testified some of this money was also used for repairs and improvements on the parties' marital home in Des Moines. In about 1996 the parties sold their home in Des Moines and purchased their current home in Indianola, a home which also required extensive repairs and renovations. Vincent did the great majority of the physical work on the repairs and renovations of both of their marital homes. Portions of the money from Linda's inheritance were also used for joint household expenses, to purchase a car for her from her mother's estate, to purchase several pieces of furniture from her mother's estate for the parties' home, and for a trip by the parties to
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