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Cases of Interest: Missouri
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Accounts (full category)

MISSOURI: Weiss v. Weiss, 954 S.W.2d 456 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).
Bank accounts established with marital funds and held by divorcing spouses in custody for children are marital property absent evidence that the accounts were established as custodial accounts under the Uniform Gift to Minors Act.
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Agreements (full category)

MISSOURI: Wakili v. Wakili, 918 S.W.2d 332 (Mo. Ct. App. 1996).
The trial court was not required to approve the parties' settlement agreement, because they were no longer in agreement when the settlement was presented for approval.
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MISSOURI: Miles v. Werle, 977 S.W.2d 297 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998).
The parties' antenuptial agreement was enforceable even though it set forth a value for only one of the nine classes of listed property.
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Antenuptial Agreements (full category)

MISSOURI: Darr v. Darr, 950 S.W.2d 867 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).
The husband's financial disclosure, combined with the wife's knowledge of his finances, was sufficient to make the parties' antenuptial agreement enforceable, even though his financial statement omitted 12% of his monthly income; however, a provision waiving the right to attorney's fees should be evaluated in view of the parties' economic circumstances at dissolution.
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Appeal (full category)

MISSOURI: George v. George, 991 S.W.2d 679 (Mo. Ct. App. 1999).
The husband's act of accepting payment of the amount that the trial court awarded him to effectuate equitable distribution estopped him from appealing the judgment.
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MISSOURI: Hicks v. Hicks, 859 S.W.2d 842 (Mo. Ct. App. 1993).
Wife who purchased parties' real estate after dissolution decree thereby waived her right to pursue appeal challenging trial court's authority to order sale of realty.
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MISSOURI: Reynolds v. Reynolds, 861 S.W.2d 825 (Mo. Ct. App. 1993).
Wife who was under significant financial distress did not waive her right to appeal by accepting payment of her entire award.
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Appreciation of Assets (full category)

MISSOURI: Alexander v. Alexander, 956 S.W.2d 957 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).
The trial court's findings were not sufficiently specific to properly apply the "source of funds" formula to classify the increase in value of the marital home.
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Attorneys and Clients (full category)

MISSOURI: Beare v. Yarbrough, 941 S.W.2d 552 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).
The wife's consent judgment in an equity action seeking recovery of omitted marital property did not bar her legal malpractice action against the attorney and the law firm that represented her in the dissolution proceeding.
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Attorney's Fees (full category)

MISSOURI: Darr v. Darr, 950 S.W.2d 867 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).
The husband's financial disclosure, combined with the wife's knowledge of his finances, was sufficient to make the parties' antenuptial agreement enforceable, even though his financial statement omitted 12% of his monthly income; however, a provision waiving the right to attorney's fees should be evaluated in view of the parties' economic circumstances at dissolution.
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Children (full category)

MISSOURI: Weiss v. Weiss, 954 S.W.2d 456 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).
Bank accounts established with marital funds and held by divorcing spouses in custody for children are marital property absent evidence that the accounts were established as custodial accounts under the Uniform Gift to Minors Act.
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Child Support (full category)

MISSOURI: Lewis v. Department of Social Services, No. WD58089 (Mo. Ct. App. Sept. 4, 2001).
David Lewis appeals the judgment of the circuit court affirming the decision of the Division of Child Support Enforcement which increased his child support obligation from $25 per week to $506 per month, retroactive to January 14, 1996.
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Classification of Assets (full category)

MISSOURI: Ansley v. Ansley, 15 S.W.3d 28 (Mo. Ct. App. 2000).
The evidence in the case supported the finding that the Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) were the husband's nonmarital property.
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MISSOURI: Brown v. Brown, 14 S.W.3d 704 (Mo. Ct. App. 2000).
The trial court mischaracterized an award of a $29,000 judgment against the husband to the wife, which was intended to equalize the property division. This mischaracterization did not render the award itself error.
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MISSOURI: In re Marriage of Below, 8 S.W.3d 233 (Mo. Ct. App. 1999).
A trial court is required to designate the couple's property as marital or separate before dividing the marital property.
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MISSOURI: Hughes v. Hughes, 994 S.W.2d 103 (Mo. Ct App. 1999).
A gift to both spouses is presumed to be marital property; however, marital debt is not marital property. The mere erroneous declaration by the trial court of what is marital property does not require a reversal where the divorce decree is otherwise fair.
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MISSOURI: In re Marriage of Medlock, 990 S.W.2d 186 (Mo. Ct. App. 1999).
A real estate tract that the husband owned prior to the marriage was marital property under the "source of funds" rule, where the debt for the entire value of the tract was paid with marital funds.
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MISSOURI: Knapp v. Knapp, 874 S.W.2d 520 (Mo. Ct. App. 1994).
Property division was not inequitable, even though the wife's entire pension was set aside as her nonmarital property, given that she did not acquire Social Security benefits through her employment as a teacher while the husband did acquire Social Security benefits through his employment.
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MISSOURI: In re Marriage of Eck, 904 S.W.2d 60 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995).
The trial court's failure to designate property as marital or nonmarital was reversible error.
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MISSOURI: In re Marriage of Smith, 892 S.W.2d 767 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995).
An error in classifying property does not require reversal unless the distribution of property amounted to an abuse of discretion.
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MISSOURI: Burk v. Burk, 936 S.W.2d 144 (Mo. Ct. App. 1996).
Misclassification of property is not reversible error unless it resulted in an unfair distribution or otherwise affected the merits of the action.
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MISSOURI: Sanders v. Sanders, 933 S.W.2d 898 (Mo. Ct. App. 1996).
Under the "source of funds" rule for classifying property, certain stock shares posted to the husband's account during the parties' marriage were his separate property, since those shares were acquired as a result of his labor before marriage.
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MISSOURI: In re Marriage of Perkel, 963 S.W.2d 445 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998).
The value of software written by the husband during the marriage was marital property.
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MISSOURI: Valdez v. Thierry, 963 S.W.2d 459 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998).
The parties' 1987 dissolution decree was enforceable despite an allegedly invalid provision classifying the husband's engineering education as marital property and awarding the wife a percentage of the husband's future income.
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MISSOURI: Heslop v. Heslop, 967 S.W.2d 249 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998).
The husband failed to show that any part of his FELA settlement was his separate property under the "analytic" approach for classifying compensation awards. During the parties' separation, the husband received a net settlement of approximately $52,000 on his claim under the Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA) for injuries sustained on his railroad job two years previously. The trial court classified the settlement as marital property in its entirety.
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Debts (full category)

MISSOURI: Held v. Held, 896 S.W.2d 709 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995).
The trial court did not abuse its discretion by awarding the marital home to the wife while assigning to the husband the responsibility for any indebtedness owed to his parents for the home.
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Disability Benefits (full category)

MISSOURI: In re Marriage of Cranor, 78 S.W.3d 150 (Mo. Ct. App. 2002).
The true disability component of disability benefits is separate property, but the retirement component is marital property to the extent it was earned during the marriage. Where the husband could have retired with retirement benefits but chose instead to receive a greater amount of disability benefits, the disability benefits had a retirement component equal to the amount of retirement benefits which the husband could have received.
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MISSOURI: In re Marriage of Smith, 892 S.W.2d 767 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995).
Error in classifying property does not require reversal unless the distribution of property amounted to an abuse of discretion.
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Dissipation of Assets (full category)

MISSOURI: Judy v. Judy, 998 S.W.2d 45 (Mo. Ct. App. 1999).
A party alleging squandering of property must present evidence of it, or no squandering will be found. A court cannot divide marital funds that are already spent, absent a finding of squandering.
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MISSOURI: Francka v. Francka, 951 S.W.2d 685 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).
The husband was properly ordered to repay the wife for funds that he intentionally dissipated in anticipation of the dissolution action, despite his claim that he used the money for living expenses.
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MISSOURI: Morris v. Morris, 951 S.W.2d 739 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).
Where the husband paid $75,000 to his brother for an alleged loan repayment, and immediately thereafter his brother purchased a duplex, the husband could be credited with having received $75,000 in marital assets regardless of whether he actually owned the duplex.
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MISSOURI: Lawrence v. Lawrence, 938 S.W.2d 333 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).
A spouse who sells marital property to meet living expenses during separation does not thereby dissipate assets so as to require that the sale proceeds be included in the marital estate.
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Division of Property (full category)

MISSOURI: Ballard v. Ballard, 77 S.W.3d 112 (Mo. Ct. App. 2002).
Marital misconduct is a division factor even where it did not cause the marital breakdown, where it did place an added burden upon the innocent spouse during the marriage, such that the innocent spouse was compelled to contribute more to the marriage.
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MISSOURI: Brill v. Brill, 65 S.W.3d 583 (Mo. Ct. App. 2002). At the time of divorce, the husband was vice-president of a large company. He signed a contract with his employer, stating that he would receive severance pay equal to three years of salary if he lost employment as a result of a future change in control of the company.
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MISSOURI: Nelson v. Nelson, 25 S.W.3d 511 (Mo. Ct. App. 2000).
The trial court could consider the husband's marital misconduct when dividing the marital estate.
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MISSOURI: Laffey v. Laffey, 4 S.W.3d 655 (Mo. Ct. App. 1999).
The husband claimed that the trial court had abused its discretion in not assigning a value to the wife's pending personal injury claim and in dividing the marital property.
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MISSOURI: Robertson v. Robertson, 3 S.W.3d 383 (Mo. Ct. App. 1999).
A finding that the funds used to purchase and improve real estate were derived from the wife's assets without significant contribution from the husband was sufficient to support the awarding of all real estate to the wife.
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MISSOURI: Vehlewald v. Vehlewald, 853 S.W.2d 944 (Mo. Ct. App. 1993).
Award to wife of a greater share of marital assets and a lesser share of marital debts was not an abuse of discretion, partly because husband received all of the income-producing property.
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MISSOURI: Held v. Held, 896 S.W.2d 709 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995).
The trial court did not abuse its discretion by awarding the marital home to the wife while assigning to the husband the responsibility for any indebtedness owed to his parents for the home.
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Estoppel (full category)

MISSOURI: Besand v. Gibbar, 982 S.W.2d 808 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998).
The husband was not collaterally estopped after the parties' dissolution proceedings from bringing an action against a business entity in which the former wife had been awarded an interest.
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MISSOURI: Missouri Mexican Products, Inc. v. Dunafon, 873 S.W.2d 282 (Mo. Ct. App. 1983).
Doctrine of collateral estoppel precluded business solely owned by husband from relitigating right to possession of antique car which was awarded to wife in dissolution action.
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Expert Witnesses (full category)

MISSOURI: McKee v. McKee, 940 S.W.2d 946 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).
The trial court erred in assessing the wife's expert witness fees as court costs against the husband.
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Factors in Award (full category)

MISSOURI: Shook v. Shook, 997 S.W.2d 103 (Mo. Ct. App. 1999).
An award of 63% of the marital property to the husband and 37% to the wife was equitable in light of the ages of the husband and the wife, among other things.
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MISSOURI: Held v. Held, 896 S.W.2d 709 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995).
The trial court did not abuse its discretion by awarding the marital home to the wife while assigning to the husband the responsibility for any indebtedness owed to his parents for the home.
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MISSOURI: Knapp v. Knapp, 874 S.W.2d 520 (Mo. Ct. App. 1994).
Property division was not inequitable, even though the wife's entire pension was set aside as her nonmarital property, given that she did not acquire Social Security benefits through her employment as a teacher while the husband did acquire Social Security benefits through his employment.
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Findings (full category)

MISSOURI: Bullard v. Bullard, 969 S.W.2d 880 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998).
Where the husband and wife were each awarded one-half of their total stocks, the trial court's failure to value the stocks did not make the property division unjust.
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MISSOURI: In re Marriage of Eck, 904 S.W.2d 60 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995).
The trial court's failure to designate property as marital or nonmarital was reversible error.
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Fraud (full category)

MISSOURI: Burris v. Burris, 904 S.W.2d 564 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995).
The wife's award of actual and punitive damages in a tort action against the husband for fraudulently concealing assets was proper - even though she may have been aware that some of the marital assets did not appear in the appraisal - where the husband did not reveal all the marital assets during interrogatories, failed to inform the wife's appraiser of the existence of such assets, and intentionally hid money in bank accounts under another person's name.
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Gifts (full category)

MISSOURI: Hughes v. Hughes, 994 S.W.2d 103 (Mo. Ct App. 1999).
A gift to both spouses is presumed to be marital property; however, marital debt is not marital property. The mere erroneous declaration by the trial court of what is marital property does not require a reversal where the divorce decree is otherwise fair.
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MISSOURI: In re Marriage of Smith, 892 S.W.2d 767 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995).
An error in classifying property does not require reversal unless the distribution of property amounted to an abuse of discretion.
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Income (full category)

MISSOURI: In re Marriage of Ballay, 924 S.W.2d 572 (Mo. Ct. App. 1996).
Calves that were born during the marriage of the husband and wife, to dairy cows that were acquired by the husband before the parties' marriage, were marital property, as was income from the dairy farm and equipment purchased with income from the farm.
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Marital Home (full category)

MISSOURI: Ray v. Ray, 877 S.W.2d 648 (Mo. Ct. App. 1994).
When valuing equity in the marital home, it is not appropriate to deduct a hypothetical real estate commission unless there is some indication that the house may be sold in the near future.
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MISSOURI: Held v. Held, 896 S.W.2d 709 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995).
The trial court did not abuse its discretion by awarding the marital home to the wife while assigning to the husband the responsibility for any indebtedness owed to his parents for the home.
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Military Benefits (full category)

MISSOURI: Gendron v. Gendron, 996 S.W.2d 668 (Mo. Ct. App. 1999).
The wife was entitled to a fraction of the husband's military retirement pension that was equal to the amount accrued during the marriage.
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Pensions (full category)

MISSOURI: In re Marriage of Beeler, 26 S.W.3d 610 (Mo. Ct. App. 2000).
A value had to be placed on the husband's pension plan, where the wife received a percentage of the pension plan.
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MISSOURI: Williams v. Williams, 17 S.W.3d 559 (Mo. Ct. App. 1999).
Should the wife, designated as a beneficiary of the husband's benefit option of his pension, bear the entire cost of the option?
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MISSOURI: Ansley v. Ansley, 15 S.W.3d 28 (Mo. Ct. App. 2000).
The evidence in the case supported the finding that the Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) were the husband's nonmarital property.
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MISSOURI: DeMayo v. DeMayo, 9 S.W.3d 736 (Mo. Ct. App. 2000).
The findings of the circuit court required reversal since consideration of the wife's retirement fund from teaching materially affected the division of marital property. In addition, the wife had failed to rebut the presumption that the couple's house was marital property.
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MISSOURI: Silcox v. Silcox, 6 S.W.3d 899 (Mo. 1999).
A statute requiring a public school teacher's retirement benefits to be treated as nonmarital property in the marital dissolution proceedings did not conflict with another statute that created the presumption that all property acquired during a marriage be treated as marital property.
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MISSOURI: Gendron v. Gendron, 996 S.W.2d 668 (Mo. Ct. App. 1999).
The wife was entitled to a fraction of the husband's military retirement pension that was equal to the amount accrued during the marriage.
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Personal Injury Awards (full category)

MISSOURI: Laffey v. Laffey, 4 S.W.3d 655 (Mo. Ct. App. 1999).
The husband claimed that the trial court had abused its discretion in not assigning a value to the wife's pending personal injury claim and in dividing the marital property.
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MISSOURI: Heslop v. Heslop, 967 S.W.2d 249 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998).
The husband failed to show that any part of his FELA settlement was his separate property under the "analytic" approach for classifying compensation awards. During the parties' separation, the husband received a net settlement of approximately $52,000 on his claim under the Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA) for injuries sustained on his railroad job two years previously. The trial court classified the settlement as marital property in its entirety.
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Postdecree Proceedings (full category)

MISSOURI: Burris v. Burris, 904 S.W.2d 564 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995).
The wife's award of actual and punitive damages in a tort action against the husband for fraudulently concealing assets was proper - even though she may have been aware that some of the marital assets did not appear in the appraisal - where the husband did not reveal all the marital assets during interrogatories, failed to inform the wife's appraiser of the existence of such assets, and intentionally hid money in bank accounts under another person's name.
Read More About This Case

MISSOURI: Besand v. Gibbar, 982 S.W.2d 808 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998).
The husband was not collaterally estopped after the parties' dissolution proceedings from bringing an action against a business entity in which the former wife had been awarded an interest.
Read More About This Case

MISSOURI: Valdez v. Thierry, 963 S.W.2d 459 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998).
The parties' 1987 dissolution decree was enforceable despite an allegedly invalid provision classifying the husband's engineering education as marital property and awarding the wife a percentage of the husband's future income.
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Professional Licenses and Degrees (full category)

MISSOURI: Valdez v. Thierry, 963 S.W.2d 459 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998).
The parties' 1987 dissolution decree was enforceable despite an allegedly invalid provision classifying the husband's engineering education as marital property and awarding the wife a percentage of the husband's future income.
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Religion (full category)

MISSOURI: Ficker v. Ficker, No. ED77871 (Mo. Ct. App. Oct. 23, 2001).
The husband argued that the court impermissibly, in violation of the First Amendment, considered his affiliation with the Church Universal and Triumphant. The appellate court held that while inquiry into religious beliefs per se is unconstitutional.
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Social Security Benefits (full category)

MISSOURI: Knapp v. Knapp, 874 S.W.2d 520 (Mo. Ct. App. 1994).
Property division was not inequitable, even though the wife's entire pension was set aside as her nonmarital property, given that she did not acquire Social Security benefits through her employment as a teacher while the husband did acquire Social Security benefits through his employment.
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Source of Funds (full category)

MISSOURI: Alexander v. Alexander, 956 S.W.2d 957 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).
The trial court's findings were not sufficiently specific to properly apply the "source of funds" formula to classify the increase in value of the marital home.
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Third Parties (full category)

MISSOURI: Francka v. Francka, 951 S.W.2d 685 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).
The husband was properly ordered to repay the wife for funds that he intentionally dissipated in anticipation of the dissolution action, despite his claim that he used the money for living expenses.
Read More About This Case

MISSOURI: Morris v. Morris, 951 S.W.2d 739 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).
Where the husband paid $75,000 to his brother for an alleged loan repayment, and immediately thereafter his brother purchased a duplex, the husband could be credited with having received $75,000 in marital assets regardless of whether he actually owned the duplex.
Read More About This Case

Torts (full category)

MISSOURI: Heslop v. Heslop, 967 S.W.2d 249 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998).
The husband failed to show that any part of his FELA settlement was his separate property under the "analytic" approach for classifying compensation awards. During the parties' separation, the husband received a net settlement of approximately $52,000 on his claim under the Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA) for injuries sustained on his railroad job two years previously. The trial court classified the settlement as marital property in its entirety.
Read More About This Case

Valuation of Property (full category)

MISSOURI: In re Marriage of Below, 8 S.W.3d 233 (Mo. Ct. App. 1999).
A trial court is required to designate the couple's property as marital or separate before dividing the marital property.
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MISSOURI: Wright v. Wright, 1 S.W.3d 52 (Mo. Ct. App. 1999).
The husband's stock purchase and savings plan and pension plan were not valued at the time of the trial, thus requiring remand. The division of property need be equitable, but need not be equal.
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MISSOURI: Gendron v. Gendron, 996 S.W.2d 668 (Mo. Ct. App. 1999).
The wife was entitled to a fraction of the husband's military retirement pension that was equal to the amount accrued during the marriage.
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MISSOURI: In re Marriage of Gustin, 861 S.W.2d 639 (Mo. Ct. App. 1993).
Valuation of property must be reasonably proximate to the date the property division becomes effective; if the effective date of the distribution is not reasonably proximate, the trial court must hold another hearing to establish a current valuation.
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MISSOURI: Ray v. Ray, 877 S.W.2d 648 (Mo. Ct. App. 1994).
When valuing equity in the marital home, it is not appropriate to deduct a hypothetical real estate commission unless there is some indication that the house may be sold in the near future.
Read More About This Case

MISSOURI: In re Marriage of Eck, 904 S.W.2d 60 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995).
The trial court's failure to designate property as marital or nonmarital was reversible error.
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MISSOURI: Bullard v. Bullard, 969 S.W.2d 880 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998).
Where the husband and wife were each awarded one-half of their total stocks, the trial court's failure to value the stocks did not make the property division unjust.
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MISSOURI: Morgan v. Ackerman, 964 S.W.2d 865 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998).
If the effective date of the property distribution is not reasonably proximate to the date when valuation evidence was submitted, the trial court must hold another hearing to establish current property values.
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