State Case Law: Rulings Turn on Appraisal Requirement, Value of Intangible Contribution

Appeals Courts in Iowa and Mississippi Settle Divorce Disputes

The Mississippi Court of Appeals reverses a trial court’s ruling in Marter v. Marter because of a valuation without sufficient evidence, and the Iowa Court of Appeals affirms the value of a wife’s intangible contributions to a business in re Marriage of Kinser. 

Marter v. Marter
August 7, 2012
Judge Irving
Court of Appeals of Mississippi

Summary:
A husband and wife consented to a divorce. The husband argued that the chancery court erred in its valuation of certain real property and his workshop. The chancery court’s valuation of the property was not supported by substantial evidence. There was no explanation in the chancery court’s order as to how it arrived at its valuation for the real property. The chancery court did not account for the husband’s workshop or its value in the divorce decree. It found that the husband’s workshop passed with the property awarded to the wife, but the chancery court did not assign any value to it.  The trial court’s ruling was reversed and remanded.

In re Marriage of Kinser
August 8, 2012
Judge Tabor
Court of Appeals of Iowa

Summary:
In this divorce action, the district court’s division of the estate was affirmed as modified because while the wife’s tangible contributions may not have directly increased the value of the husband’s businesses, her financial and other intangible contributions to the 13-year marriage itself allowed the businesses the opportunity to grow.  The trial court’s ruling was affirmed.

Peter Agrapides is an appraiser at Houlihan Valuation Advisors.  Reach him at panayotiagra@yahoo.com.