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APPEAL
FROM THE UNION COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT [NO. 70DR-17-322],
HONORABLE DAVID F. GUTHRIE, JUDGE
Richard
E. Worsham, Little Rock, for appellant.
Eugene
D. Bramblett, Camden, for appellee.
OPINION
KENNETH
S. HIXSON, Judge
Appellant Benjamin Wilson Pratt appeals from a June 19, 2018
divorce decree filed by the Union County Circuit Court in
favor of appellee Tamra Renee Pratt (now Corley). On appeal,
Benjamin contends that the circuit court erred in its unequal
division of the parties marital property.[1] We affirm.
I.
Facts
The
parties were married on April 27, 2013, and separated on July
4, 2017. No children were born of the marriage, but Tamras
son by a prior marriage resided with the parties. Tamra is a
beneficiary of a family trust that produced significant
income. Benjamin was employed at a chemical plant and
received some Social
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Security disability benefits during the marriage due to
diabetes and kidney complications. Tamra filed a complaint
for divorce on July 7, 2017, on the grounds of personal
indignities and requested the circuit court to make a
distribution of the real and personal property acquired
during the marriage. A trial was held on March 9,
2018.[2]
Tamra
testified that she has a 10 percent interest in the Corley
Trust, which distributes oil and gas royalty dividends as
part of her familys oil-production company. She receives the
dividends quarterly, and the amount varies based on the price
of oil by the barrel. Tamra testified that Benjamin was
employed at Great Lakes Chemical plant during their marriage.
According to their 2013 through 2016 tax returns, Benjamin
cumulatively earned $ 198,528 in gross income, including his
wages and Social Security disability benefits. Comparatively,
Tamra cumulatively earned $ 802,182 in gross income.
Tamra
further testified that she owned a premarital residence that
the parties lived in before she sold it for $ 250,000. The
parties purchased their marital residence on Pleasant Oak
Drive in Smackover, Arkansas, for $ 250,000 in addition to
the adjacent lot for $ 30,000 that was titled in both of
their names. They made some improvements to the residence,
including the construction of a shop building, a fence, and a
swimming pool. It was undisputed that the costs of those
improvements totaled $ 81,206.10. Tamra testified that the
improvements were funded by her dividend income from the
Corley Trust.
Tamra
additionally testified that Benjamins father owned a home on
East 10th Street in Smackover, Arkansas. Benjamins father
had a reverse mortgage on the residence. During the marriage,
Tamra used her dividend income to pay off the reverse
mortgage on January 14, 2016, in the amount of $ 41,167.52,
and the property was deeded back to Benjamins father.
Thereafter, on February 15, 2017, Benjamins father conveyed
the property to Benjamin by warranty deed in Benjamins name
only. Tamra further used a total of $ 11,950.91 of her
dividend income to improve the East 10th Street residence.
Tamra
testified that she paid Benjamins premarital debts totaling
$ 6,112.18 and that she paid a total of $ 3,883.31 for
credit-card charges that Benjamin made after the parties
separation. The parties further had $ 52,758.26 and $
170,475.34 in their joint checking and savings accounts,
respectively. Tamra explained that Benjamin never contributed
any money to the savings account, but his payroll checks were
deposited into the checking account. Tamra stated that she
purchased Benjamins new Ford F150 truck the summer after
they were married. Therefore, she requested that the circuit
court make an unequal ...