Marriage of Friebel v. Friebel
Multiple issues addressed by court. See full summary.
In Re Marriage of Doerr v. Doerr
Trial court properly excluded trust where husband’s father testified as to source of funds and later transactions.
In Re Marriage of Preuss v. Preuss
(1) Cattle offspring were not given to wife and are thus not excluded as income or dividends (2) Inheritance spent to operate farm no longer exists. Since wife cannot trace the funds, it has lost its character. (3) If asset no longer exists, court cannot exclude it.
In Re Marriage of Spindler v. Spindler
Simply because wife did routine maintenance on cottage inherited by husband is not enough to conclude that its character changed.
In Re Marriage of Metz v. Keener
Retained earnings of subchapter S corporation, over which wife had full ownership, is income and not appreciation, so court properly included it in the marital estate.
In Re Marriage of Ayres v. Ayres
A portion of the retained earnings of a gifted corporation were undistributed dividends and were thus marital property subject to division.
In Re Marriage of Derr v. Derr
Apartment building is separate asset, but the related mortgage debt is subject to division.
Grumbeck v. Grumbeck
Though a circuit court may consider substantial gifted assets when dividing the marital estate, it may not divide the marital estate to work a de facto splitting of those assets when there is no hardship.
Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
The Federal Rules of Evidence, not Frye, provide the standard for admitting expert scientific testimony in a federal trial.
Wright v. Wright
Husband traced non-divisible stock and there was no evidence of donative intent. Trial court did not err in finding that husband was not responsible for appreciation of company stock. Retained earnings were not marital since they represented insurance proceeds from loss of an asset.