Court Opinion

ID: 9676407
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 05:23:54.082004+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:48.393703
License: Public Domain

CROW, Presiding Judge.
I concur in the result and in everything said in the principal opinion except in two respects.
First, the principal opinion, as I read it, suggests that § 452.330.1(2), RSMo Cum. Supp.1983, may refer to the value of marital property awarded to each spouse. If that is the import of the principal opinion, I respectfully disagree. I believe it is manifest that “the property set apart to each spouse” referred to in § 452.330.1(2) is the separate, non-marital property of each spouse, identified as such by the trial court and set apart by the trial court to the appropriate owner-spouse. Once this is done, the trial court then divides the marital property between the spouses, taking into consideration all relevant factors including those itemized in subparagraphs (1) through (4) of § 452.330.1. One of those factors — subparagraph (2) — is the value of the separate property of each spouse set apart to such spouse. My view is supported by Weast v. Weast, 682 S.W.2d 86, 87[1] (Mo.App.1984), and In re Marriage of MacBeth, 622 S.W.2d 720, 723[3-5] (Mo.App.1981).
*512Second, the principal opinion, in mentioning the separate property set apart to the wife, states that “[t]he nature and extent of that property is such that it is not to be weighed in the division of the parties’ marital property.” The principal opinion states that the same is true of the separate property set apart to the husband. As indicated above, I am convinced that under § 452.330.1(2), the trial court, in dividing the marital property, is required to consider the value of the separate, non-marital property set apart to each spouse. I am satisfied, however, that taking such into consideration in the instant case, the division of marital property by the trial court, as modified by the principal opinion, is the proper division.