Articles Posted in Divorce

While most couples enter into a divorce hoping to complete the process as amicably as possible, that is not always the case. Whether due to disagreements over money, accusations of cheating or other offensive conduct, or battles over custody, a Wisconsin divorce can quickly turn ugly. Name-calling and fights over possessions are one thing, but when a spouse’s actions go from that to verbal or physical harassment, it may be time to get a court involved.

In Zernia v. Zernia, Sharon Zernia did just that. After experiencing harassment from her ex-husband, she sought an injunction to stop any further harassing behavior. Sharon and John Zernia divorced in 2011, and the process was a very contentious one. Several years later, in 2015, John approached the Pastor at the church that Sharon and her family attended, and he had several meetings with the Pastor to alert him to immoral conduct in which he believed Sharon had engaged, including stealing items from his home and being a “sadly mentally ill” mother. John also printed and distributed 110 flyers at Sharon’s church that also made these allegations about Sharon. After Sharon learned of the flyers, she petitioned the court for an injunction against John to keep him from coming near her and from further harassing her.

At the injunction hearing, John argued that he did not intend to hurt Sharon but was merely acting in accordance with his Catholic beliefs, which required him to alert the church to Sharon’s allegedly immoral behavior. Sharon testified that she was alarmed by John’s behavior and was worried for her safety. The lower court found that while John’s efforts to reach out to Sharon’s Pastor were not harassing, the flyers that he left on cars were. Since there was no legitimate purpose to the flyers, the court granted Sharon an injunction against John. John appealed.

Dividing a couple’s assets during a divorce is almost always a complicated endeavor. Courts must consider money an individual brought into the marriage, money and assets acquired during a marriage, and how to split up physical property like a home and vehicles. When a couple owns a business together, this becomes immensely more complicated, as a recent decision by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals illustrates. Rarely can a family-owned business be neatly divided between two ex-spouses without some sort of issue arising.

In In Re The Marriage of Haley v. Haley, Patrick Haley and Anna Haley decided to divorce after 12 years together. During the time that they were married, they owned and operated a company called IPS-CareFree Enzymes, which provided various enzyme products to companies and consumers. While running the business, Patrick invested in a new product that removed certain enzymes from pools and spas with a hose-mounted sprayer. He received a patent for this device and licensed use of the product out to different companies.

When Anna and Patrick divorced, they negotiated a Marital Settlement Agreement and a separate Supplemental Business Agreement to cover the division of their company. Under the SBA, the two ex-spouses divided up their former customers and decided that they could not cross-solicit from each other’s customers. Per the SBA, both parties were entitled to use and market all of the products created by the Company, including the product that Patrick patented. Several years later, Anna’s new company, now named Auraco, began advertising products for sale, including the patented product. Patrick sent a letter to Anna to demand she stop selling the patented products. He then moved to reopen divorce proceedings to clarify the extent to which Anna could sell the patented products. Anna sought the same clarification.

In a divorce, one of the more challenging tasks can be to determine who should receive which property and how much they should receive. Splitting up finances can be very emotionally difficult for couples and can bring up feelings of resentment, frustration, and anger. In order to protect what they believe to be theirs, some spouses resort to taking jointly owned funds prior to a divorce and attempting to divert them for personal use. To avoid this problem, many courts will require a strict accounting of funds and assets in a divorce, dating back to well before the actual divorce papers were filed. If money cannot be taken into account, it may be held against the person who spent it, as a recent Wisconsin divorce case illustrates.

In In Re Marriage of Bodart v. Balthazor, Jane Bodart and Leslie Balthazor divorced after more than 30 years of marriage together. Sometime shortly prior to the divorce, Leslie emptied an IRA account in his name that held over $70,000 in assets. During the divorce, the parties began to dispute the division of assets and property, and Jane requested a full accounting of the money withdrawn from the IRA account. Leslie provided bank statements to show when the money was withdrawn, but he could not account for how it was all used. At trial, he testified that more than 95 percent of the assets were used to pay for joint marital expenses, rather than his own personal interests, but Jane carefully documented how many of the funds were not explained and were taken out via personal checks or unidentified ATM withdrawals. In total, while Jane conceded that $25,000 of the proceeds were likely used for marital expenses, she argued that the rest were not clearly used for both of their benefits.

The court repeatedly suggested that Leslie provide more information concerning the outstanding $50,000, but he was unable to provide specific documentation or receipts. Since the court could not ascertain exactly what had happened to that money, it made the decision to split it in half, assuming that $25,000 was used for marital expenses, while the remaining $25,000 was not and was credited against Leslie in distributing the remaining assets. Leslie appealed this outcome.

Determining child support payments in Wisconsin can be a complicated calculus, one that requires special consideration of the placement of the children, the income of both parents, their likely future income, and any other types of special contributions that an individual may be making to a household. Artificially low payments can significantly affect a primary parent’s ability to pay for the things that children need, while payments that are too high can make it almost impossible for the secondary parent to be able to make ends meet. Courts are often in the precarious position of trying to do the best that they can under the circumstances, hoping to protect the interests of all parties. In some situations, however, parties may attempt to manipulate the system in order to make payments lower than they should be. When this happens, as illustrated in the case below, courts may take action in order to ensure that child support payments remain fair.

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Dealing with divorce is never easy. It can be emotionally, mentally, and financially draining. On top of the many practical adjustments and changes to life routines, ex-spouses must deal with the complicated and lengthy nature of divorce proceedings, which can be particularly difficult when a divorce is contentious. While litigants may often wish to ignore what is going on in their legal case and turn away from dealing with tough issues, this kind of an approach can cause significant problems during a divorce. As a recent case before the Wisconsin Court of Appeals illustrates, when one spouse chooses not to participate or be cooperative in divorce proceedings, it can lead to sanctions down the road.

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