In the Matter of Ronald Brownell and Irene Brownell
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Petitioner Ronald Brownell appealed the final decree entered by the Plymouth Family Division in his divorce from Respondent Irene Brownell. Petitioner argued that the trial court erred when it: (1) considered his federal veterans’ disability benefits as income for alimony purposes; (2) treated any potential post-divorce distributions from his mother’s trust as marital property subject to distribution; (3) ordered him to pay the respondent $47,000 from his trust distributions, even though he had dissipated most of it before the divorce; and (4) found him in indirect civil contempt for failing to pay temporary alimony to the respondent and for violating the trial court’s anti-hypothecation order. Finding that the family division did not abuse its discretion, the Supreme Court affirmed the final decree.
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