In the Matter of Diana Wolters & John Wolters
Annotate this CaseIn consolidated appeals, petitioner Diana Wolters, and respondent John Wolters, appealed circuit court orders pertaining to their divorce proceeding. Diana argued the original trial judge erred by denying her motion to recuse the trial judge and that all orders issued by that judge should have been vacated; and erred by considering tax consequences when determining the value of the parties' property. John argued the subsequent trial judge erred by denying his motion to dismiss the petitioner's motion to correct property distribution and by awarding a certain percentage of eminent domain litigation proceeds to Diana. Diana cross-appealed, arguing that the court erred by not awarding her a greater percentage of the eminent domain litigation proceeds. Upon review of the parties' arguments, the Supreme Court affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded. The Supreme Court concluded that because sale or transfer of the properties at issue was neither required by the trial court's order, nor certain to occur within a short time after the divorce decree, the trial court erred to the extent that, when valuing the properties for distribution, it reduced the value of those properties to account for estimated taxes that would be due by the parties in the event of a sale or transfer of the properties. Accordingly, the trial court's distribution order was vacated and the case remanded for distribution of assets consistent with the Court's opinion. Because the Supreme Court vacated the trial court's entire property distribution, it did not address other arguments made about the eminent domain proceeds.
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