Patsy Hill Oakley v. James Spencer Oakley

This is a divorce case about division of marital assets, on appeal for the second time. Initially,
the trial court divided the marital assets by granting each party approximately half. The husband
appealed, arguing, inter alia, that the wife should not receive a share of his separately owned
business or a share of the appreciation in value of his separately owned securities. This Court
held that the wife was not entitled to a share of the appreciation in value of the husband’s
separately owned securities. As to the business, this Court held that the wife was entitled only to
a share of any appreciation in its value, and remanded to the lower court for a determination of
the amount of any such appreciation in the value of the business. On remand, the trial court
eliminated the wife’s award of a share of the increase in value of the securities, as ordered by
this Court, and found that there was no evidence of any increase in the value of the business. No
other changes were made to the division of marital property, with the result being that the wife’s
award, while smaller in value, was proportionally larger than the husband’s award. The husband
appealed a second time, arguing that this new division was inequitable. We affirm.
Rule 3 Appeal; Judgment of the Circuit Court is affirmed