Grubbs v. Grubbs
Grubbs v. Grubbs
Opinion
Lawdean M. Grubbs (the "wife") sued Henry Grubbs, Jr.(the "husband"), for a divorce. The trial court held a trial and divorced the parties. The judgment of divorce divided the parties' personal property, which included cattle, farm equipment, and various household items. The judgment required the wife to "make two lists of all personal and household items and [provided that] the [husband] shall have his choice of the property on one of the lists." The parties were unable to divide the property as directed, so the husband filed a motion to have the wife held in contempt and to have the court divide the personal property.
The trial court then appointed the sheriff as special master to divide the property; the procedure required the parties to meet at the marital residence, to go through the house, and, in turn, the barn and other outbuildings, and for each to select the items he or she wanted. Each party was to supply the special master with preprinted stick-on labels to mark the items chosen. which party had "first pick" was to be decided by a coin toss. The special master was instructed to make a list of the property each party was to receive and to submit it to the court. The parties then had 15 days to object to the special master's report. the procedure to be followed in the case of any exception was not explained. No special master's report appears in the record, so it is impossible for this court to know which party received which items of personal property. The husband did file a petition for a "writ of assistance," in which he requested the trial court to order the special master to allow him to remove "his" property from the marital residence. Nothing in the record indicates that the trial court ruled on this petition, and the husband appealed the divorce judgment just two days after filing the petition.
The husband's only issue on appeal is whether the trial court erred in dividing the parties' property. When determining its awards in a divorce case, a trial court may consider many factors, including the type and value of the property owned by the parties. Duckett v. Duckett,
An appeal ordinarily lies only from the entry of a final judgment. Ala. Code 1975, §
In addition, we note that the trial court's judgment, in dealing with the parties' real property, refers to a copy of a tax map, which is attached as an exhibit to the judgment. The trial court awarded to the wife all the real estate on the tax map "outlined in red." The record on appeal contains a black-and-white copy of the trial court's exhibit to its judgment; we cannot determine from that copy of the exhibit what portions of the real property were awarded to the wife.
The appellee's request for an attorney fee on appeal is denied.
APPEAL DISMISSED.
ROBERTSON, P.J., and YATES, MONROE, and THOMPSON, JJ., concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Henry M. Grubbs, Jr. v. Lawdean M. Grubbs.
- Cited By
- 16 cases
- Status
- Published