Court Opinion

ID: 9534295
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:38:26.65085+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:30:14.074709
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE JOHNSON, dissenting: I dissent from that part of the majority opinion which concerns itself with ordering of the sale of marital property. The majority opinion holds that no court may order the sale of jointly owned marital property if neither party has prayed for partition. While that holding may accurately reflect the statute, it does not address the circumstance of this case. Section 514 of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 40, par. 514), in effect, provides jurisdiction in the court of dissolution over actions for partition that may arise during a divorce proceeding. The purpose of the provision is to eliminate the additional litigation in trial courts that would otherwise arise from marriage disputes. As a matter of procedure, parties seeking to avail themselves of the provisions of section 514 must comply with the requirement of including a prayer for partition in their pleadings. Complaints that do not meet the pleading requirements are, of course, insufficient. However, it should be noted that in view of the merger of law and equity, notwithstanding the division of the court to which a judge is assigned, a trial judge has jurisdiction to grant whatever remedy may be appropriate in the circumstances of the case before him. This view is supported by section 34 of the Civil Practice Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 110, par. 34) which provides that “[ejxcept in case of default, the prayer for relief does not limit the relief obtainable # ° The court in this case, and not the parties, is seeking to avail itself of a remedy which is in the nature of partition. The majority would confuse the section 514 provisions with the power of the trial court to achieve a just and equitable distribution of property. The basic premise of this dissent is that the trial court in dissolutions of marriage should be able to exercise its discretion in order to secure such a result. The resolution of the property distribution should only be limited by reason, and any such judgment should not be disturbed unless an abuse becomes apparent. The majority opinion points to the cases of Blazina v. Blazina (1976), 42 Ill. App. 3d 159, 356 N.E.2d 164, and Nugent v. Nugent (1973), 9 Ill. App. 3d 702, 292 N.E.2d 917. Although both cases involve statutory provisions that predate but are identical to section 514, they can be distinguished from this case in one crucial respect. In the cases cited by the majority, the allocation of property interests is disputed by the parties. Such is not the circumstance in our case. The trial court ruled that both Wisconsin lots were, in fact, joint property, owned in equal shares. That allocation of interest made by the court was not disputed by the parties. Instead, it is the fact that this specific property was not left undivided which causes such concern and gives rise to this appeal. It is noted with great interest that the appellant has suggested on appeal that the Wisconsin property could be awarded to her in lieu of maintenance. There is an irresistible tendency in dissolutions of marriage for the parties to pursue the properties which are attractive for their potentially appreciable value. The majority opinion goes on to discuss section 503 of the Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 40, par. 503), which instructs the trial court to take all relevant factors into consideration when making an allocation of property. I would further suggest that when a consideration has been made it is the duty of the court to take measures in its final order that will secure the fruition of the allocation. In this cáse, the appellant had worked throughout most of the marriage, but she was unemployed at the time of the hearing and represented that she had limited skills. As well, neither party proposed to the court a plan to manage the property upon dissolution of the marriage. The just and equitable path for the court to follow was the ordering of a sale of the property with an equal distribution of the net proceeds. That left both parties in a position to continue their lives free from entangled financial affairs and without having to face financial hardship in order to maintain their respective allocations of the property. Additionally, it is foreseeable, under the rationale of the majority, that there may occur instances where the trial court is handcuffed in its attempt to resolve property distributions because one or both parties are financially incapable of supporting their allocated interests in marital property. Where there is a showing, of an inability on the part of one or both parties to support their interest in the property, and those interests are not in dispute, the ordering of sale of the asset followed by distribution of the net proceeds is advisable. Where a just and equitable division of the marital property would be impaired without a sale and distribution of net proceeds, an order in the nature of partition is appropriately within the discretion of the trial court. For these reasons, I must respectfully dissent from the majority opinion.