Let’s talk about Ronnie Ali and Amy Ali. Ronnies a doctor. He’s 49 years old. Amy’s 27 years old at the time of their divorce. They get married in 2003 and had one kid.

After seven years, they separated and Amy files for divorce.

The above picture is a warning from your Ocean Springs Divorce Lawyer – Legal Fees are coming your way if you don’t listen.

They owned several “urgent care” clinics and in this case more than two hundred different pleadings get filed. That is an astounding number in any divorce, I don’t care who it is.

The Judge in Chancery Court equitably divided the property. You’ll want to read my posts and FAQs about equitable division.

Ocean Springs Divorce Lawyer – Periodic Alimony

Amy also got $5,500.00 per month in periodic alimony.

Ronnie didn’t like that part of the Court’s Order so he appealed. The legal mumbo jumbo is “The chancery court has broad discretion in deciding whether to award alimony and in what amount. Appellate courts will not disturb the award on appeal unless it is found to be against the overwhelming weight of the evidence or manifestly in error. Ali v. Ali, 232 So. 3d 770, 774 (Miss. App. 2017).

So what’s that legal mumbo jumbo mean?

It means that the Chancery Court Judge must have done something really wrong in order to get reversed on appeal. And I don’t just mean you think the Judge is an idiot. Again, the Judge has to have been REALLY wrong to get reversed on this.

So what”s Ronnie mad at? The alimony.

He didn’t want to pay $5,500, given that the Judge gave Amy a lot of the money and property.

Ocean Springs Divorce Lawyer – Property And Money Get Divided

On appeal, Ronnie acknowledges that the issues of property division and alimony are “intertwined.” “All property division, lump sum or periodic alimony payment, and mutual obligations for child support should be considered together. Alimony and equitable distribution are distinct concepts, but together they command the entire field of financial settlement of divorce. Therefore, where one expands, the other must recede.” Id.

So what did Amy get?

She got the house, household furnishings, three vehicles, $18,000 in checking and savings, a $28,000 IRA and one of the urgent care clinics.

So what did Ronnie get?

He got one urgent care clinic, one urgent care clinic that does not run, $62,000 in gold coins [who the heck buys gold coins????] and savings, his personal corporation. What he got totaled about $111,000.

Ronnie made about $41,463 per month at the time of the divorce and bragged at trial he could make $900,000 per year when he wanted.

On the other hand, Amy divided her time between taking care of their kid and managing the urgent care clinics. If you have read my FAQ, I’ll give you one guess where this is going.

Here’s where Ronnie really had some problems with the Judge: “The chancellor also found that Ronnie had systematically violated “court orders regarding child and spousal support, payment of the mortgage, taxes, and insurance associated with the marital home as well as the transition of clinic management to Amy and the use of clinic funds without Amy’s approval or court order which had resulted in Amy’s filing a plethora of contempt pleadings.”

What have I told you many times? Follow the Judge’s Order even if you don’t like it because if you don’t, you WILL get on the Judge’s bad side and bad things will start to happen to you. So click on listen to the Judge for bad things happening.

More legal mumbo jumbo the Appeals Court has to consider: “The question of a deficit is “with respect to having sufficient resources and assets to meet … needs and living expenses.” “A financially independent spouse may be required to support the financially dependent spouse in the manner in which the dependent spouse was supported during the marriage, subject to a material change in circumstances.” Ali v. Ali, 232 So.3d 770 (Miss. App. 2017).

So the Mississippi Court Of Appeals said, “Amy’s prospects were uncertain after a long hiatus from paid employment, and that she ‘will be left with a significant deficit even if she were to eventually obtain employment as a nurse practitioner…”

What’s that mean? It means the $5,500 periodic alimony ruling will stand.

Ronnie wanted the division of property changed on appeal also.

Here’s what the Court said about that:

We also find no merit to Ronnie’s claims about disparity following the property division—although it is true that Amy received much of the marital property, the marital estate was illiquid, relatively small, and could not produce income sufficient to support Amy as Ronnie did during the marriage. We are likewise unimpressed with Ronnie’s contentions regarding the chancellor’s findings of his misconduct and dissipation of marital assets; his argument is perfunctory and his contentions are often disingenuous or contradicted by other evidence in the record. As an example, Ronnie argues that the chancellor erred in finding that he had systematically violated the temporary order to pay the mortgage on the marital home by pointing out that he did, in fact, pay the mortgage—but it would be more accurate to say that Ronnie eventually paid the mortgage, as many of the payments were late. Similarly, Ronnie claims that the delinquent taxes were a result of an error by his preparer, but the only record evidence he cites in support of this claim is testimony from a different accountant that the taxes were done incorrectly. Ronnie fails to mention that his accountant from the relevant time also testified at trial—that Ronnie had instructed her to stop making the tax payments, that she had resisted, and that she had considered herself terminated following the disagreement.

Hint: when a Court uses the word “disingenuous” about you, bad things are about to happen.

Ocean Springs Divorce Lawyer – Legal Fees

Ronnie also had to pay half of Amy’s attorney’s fees, which were $144,500!!! The Chancery Court Judge tuned Ronnie up for half of the attorney fees because of his “misconduct.”

Ronnie also had to pay $5,000 per month to Amy for child support.

How did the Chancery Court Judge come up with this number?

“‘In determining child support, chancellors may consider, inter alia, the health, income, and earning capacity of both parents, the reasonable needs of the child, and the necessary living expenses of the noncustodial parent.” Id. at 776.

Ronnie shot himself in the foot when he argued this should be reduced because he claimed on his financial statement that he spent $1,000 a month “just for entertaining the child during visitation.” Heck, what is he doing with this kid to spend that kind of money on just entertainment????

Just like keeping Amy in her same standard of living, the Court held, “It is not an abuse of discretion for the chancellor to consider the standard of living to which the child is accustomed in deciding what amount of support is reasonable.”

So, the Mississippi Court Of Appeals ruled against Ronnie on child support also.

Ocean Springs Divorce Lawyer – Life Insurance

On life insurance, Ronnie got a win.

Ronnie got a $1.5 million dollar policy on his life for Amy and $500,00 for his kid as required by the Chancery Court. The Court of Appeals said that was too much.

Here’s the legal mumbo jumbo:

“An alimony payor may be required to maintain life insurance in an amount sufficient to satisfy payment of alimony obligations that survive the payor’s death. The key phrase is “alimony obligations that survive the payor’s death. Periodic alimony is an obligation that “terminates automatically” upon the payor’s death and cannot be imposed upon the payor’s estate, absent an express agreement. While lump-sum alimony fully vests at the time of the divorce judgment, periodic alimony only vests on the date each payment becomes due. So when the payor dies, the only alimony obligations that survive—and the only obligations that may be insured—are unpaid lump-sum alimony and unpaid periodic-alimony payments that have already vested.

“Recognizing the possibility that an alimony payor may fall behind in periodic-alimony payments and then die leaving those vested payments unsatisfied, this court has acknowledged the chancellor’s authority to require the alimony payor to maintain a life-insurance policy to protect the recipient spouse against such a contingency.”

So what’s the bottom line?

I’ve said it many times: Just follow the Judge’s Orders. Just listen to what the Judge says. Don’t try to hide assets. Don’t try to hide money. Don’t exaggerate expenses on financial statements. Just be bluntly honest with the Judge.