Court Opinion

ID: 9689670
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 18:42:38.324727+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:51.329902
License: Public Domain

OTIS, Justice
(dissenting).
In my opinion it is inappropriate for this court to pass on, and approve, a nominal award of alimony without any findings on the part of the trial court regarding the amount of the husband’s income. I would remand for specific findings on that critical issue.
We are here confronted with a record where the husband’s testimony was in a number of findings specifically rejected by the trial court as being unsupported by the facts bearing on the value of the properties he owned and the incumbrances against them. It appears the husband has accumulated an estate worth some $550,000. Although his wife has received 30 percent of that amount, the trial court has limited her alimony to $600 a month for a period of only six years.
I submit that after a marriage of 24 years during which the appellant has developed no work skills except as a caretaker or waitress for her husband’s business properties, and where she will be 53 years of age when her alimony terminates, it is patently unjust to cut her off without any regard to what her husband’s actual earnings or earning capacity may be. It seems obvious to me that neither a trial court nor an appellate court is competent to approve an award for maintenance without any concrete evidence of the husband’s income. Judging ■from the size of his business transactions it can only be inferred that he has successfully concealed from both his wife and the court information which would mandate a more substantial and more enduring award if all the facts were known. Accordingly I believe the interests of justice compel a remand for further evidence regarding the source and amount of the respondent’s current income so that the trial court may have an opportunity to reassess the issue of maintenance in the light of a more comprehensive examination of respondent’s resources and actual earnings.