Opinion ID: 2113472
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Marital Property and Section 1513(b)

Text: Husband contends that the Family Court erred by treating the Brookstone Account and the Harkins Account as marital property. He argues that, because both corporate investment accounts are assets of businesses he established and owned well before marrying Wife, 13 Del. C. § 1513(b) expressly excludes those accounts from marital property. [7] He claims that the statute excludes any premarital businesses as well as any increase in the value of those businesses. In Horning v. Horning, [8] we examined the effects of Section 1513(b) on premarital businesses assets. We affirmed the Family Court's holding that the replacement equipment that the husband had obtained during the marriage in his premarital landscaping business's name, along with increases in the business's client accounts and gross income, were not marital property under Section 1513. [9] We explained: Husband's business as it existed during the marriage was merely a continuation of his premarital business.... In fact, husband maintained the business as an asset separate from the marriage. As for wife's claim regarding the increased number of client accounts and the expanded gross income, these items merely reflect an increase in the business's value, and are thus exempt from distribution under 13 Del. C. § 1513(b)[4]. [10] We also noted that [t]his application of Section 1513(b)[] is in keeping with the Court's broad equitable powers and does justice to the parties. [11] In this case, Husband incorporated and fully owned both Brookstone Pension and Harkins Agency before his marriage to Wife. The Harkins Account and the Brookstone Account are assets of two separate corporations. Therefore, 13 Del. C. § 1513(4), at first glance, would appear to exclude these assets from the marital property.