Court Opinion

ID: 9715150
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:55:49.795506+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:32.013451
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE HARRISON, concurring in part and dissenting in part: I concur with the opinion of the court, but dissent in part. I do not agree with the majority that stock dividends would be income received during the marriage and, as such, are marital property. A stock dividend is not a dividend in the usual sense, which is a cash distribution to stockholders of profits on their investments — it is ordinarily an increase in the number of shares declared out of profits, the increased number representing exactly the same property as was represented by the smaller number of shares. It is nothing more than a process in corporation bookkeeping. Thus, all the new shares would retain the same character as the stock purchased by Gaines Smith before the marriage. The subject statute does provide that “property acquired before the marriage” is nonmarital property. Even if the new shares are considered an increase in value of the stock purchased before the marriage, “the increase in value of property acquired before the marriage” is nonmaritál property. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 40, par. 505(a)(5) and (6). I further dissent regarding that portion of the majority opinion that holds a rebuttable presumption arises that a spouse who furnishes the consideration has made a gift to the other spouse when he acquires property and causes title to be registered in the name of the other spouse. In re Marriage of Preston (1980), 81 Ill. App. 3d 672, 402 N.E.2d 332.