In Re The Marriage Of Hutchings

250 P.3d 324 (2011)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Elizabeth (W) and Dean (H) were married on March 12, 1983. Both parties had a high school diploma. W was twenty years old, pregnant, and working as a nurse's aide. H was twenty-one and working for a manufacturing company. The parties did not own any real property. They had 4 children W quit her job as a nurse's aide when she began having health problems with the first child. W was the primary caretaker of the children for approximately sixteen years of the twenty-two-year marriage. W began working part-time as a birth certificate clerk at St. John Medical Center and continued to care for the parties' children. By the time of trial, she had held that job full time for four years, earning $22,927.93 in 2007. She is at the top amount she can earn for that position, with no opportunity for advancement. W had a shortfall of around $1,200 per month. She used money from her savings, from what she had left from the sale of the rental house, to cover her expenses. When she has to add expenses such as health insurance, she estimated that the shortfall would be around $1,825 per month. She testified that she wanted to become self-supportive by obtaining a master's degree in social work in which she would earn $35,000 to $39,000 per year. W started part-time classes at junior college and estimated that her college expenses would be a total of $23,850 over five years. H worked for American Airlines. He started painting planes and worked his way up to crew chief, earning over $70,000 per year at the time of trial. H also earned extra income, generally in cash, through independent painting and construction jobs. H received cash in the amount of $4,500 for three painting jobs, and a W-2 showed he earned $1,200 from US Medical. H also acquired a pension and a 401(k) plan at American Airlines, and flying benefits. W and H had purchased an unfinished house and five acres. It took fourteen to fifteen years to complete the house, with the W helping with some of the physical labor to finish it. The house was sold shortly after its completion, and the parties then built a second home where they lived for five years. The parties then moved into a lakefront home, where they lived until separation. The house was 2,100 square feet, with a private boat dock and access to a swimming pool and tennis court. They also owned a rental house and a vacant lot, and each party had a vehicle. H moved out of the marital residence and began living with another woman. Two minor children, and one child who had aged out, continued to live with W. W moved into a one-bedroom apartment, and she plans to purchase a home about half the size of the prior marital residence with her half of the proceeds from the sale of the marital home. She believes she can only afford a house in the range of $75,000 to $85,000. H purchased a newly built, 1,600 square foot home after the separation, with a purchase price of $159,000. He paid $34,000 in cash as a down payment from his $40,000 sales proceeds from the sale of the marital residence. He travels monthly, often accompanied by his girlfriend, both domestically as well as to Jamaica, Switzerland, and Australia. W filed for divorce. H was ordered to pay $931.26 per month in child support. Eventually, H was ordered to pay W $2,000 per month as a combination of temporary child support and temporary payment of jointly acquired indebtedness. After the sale of the rental property, H began paying the wife $1,800 per month as the combined payment of child support and jointly acquired debt. Then, following the aging out of the youngest child in June 2007, H paid W $900 per month without a court order until trial. W requested $2,200 per month support alimony for five years, for a total of $132,000, in order to pursue the social work degrees. The trial court awarded her $250 per month for three years, for a total of $9,000 in support alimony. The Court of Civil Appeals affirmed. The court stated that 'Wife agreed that she was asking for $23,800 for reimbursement of tuition for undergraduate and graduate degrees, but if she chose to change her profession to nursing, that would have been free through a program at St. John's, except for owing St. John's two-years of employment at $18 per hour. Wife was adamant about not wanting to be a nurse.' W appealed.