Husband pays alimony after financial duplicity and alcohol abuse
Tennessee alimony divorce case summary after 7 years married.
Husband’s financial duplicity and alcohol abuse result in alimony award to wife.
Andrew Francis Tittle v. Deidre Lyn DeYoung Tittle
The parties in this Williamson County, Tennessee, case met in Michigan, and moved to Tennessee in 2014, after the husband was offered a position with his father’s company overseeing operations in the region. They bought a home in Tennessee and got married in 2014. The couple had a child in 2018 and the wife began working part-time immediately after the birth. The husband filed for divorce in 2021 after leaving the marital home. In 2022, the trial court held a hearing and issued a fifty page order containing its findings and conclusions. In particular, the trial court found that the husband lacked credibility, and that his testimony changed to meet the exigencies of the circumstances.
The court found that the husband had understated his income, and colluded with his father to draw a lower salary while the divorce was pending. The court noted that the husband had access to a credit card issued by his company, which he used frequently for personal expenses. This was referred to as a “fraud against the court” in order to avoid obligations towards the wife. The court noted that the company paid for the husband’s company car, insurance and meals, as well as entertainment. The trial court found that the husband had an untreated alcoholism. The court granted the divorce to the woman, based on the husband’s financial deception and inappropriate marital behavior. The wife received $1190 in child support per month and the husband received $238,000. The husband was ordered to pay for all work-related childcare amounting to $1624 a month. It awarded her an extra $50,000 in solido alimony and $75,000 towards her attorney fees which exceeded $116,000. The husband appealed the decision to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
The first argument was that the evidence did not support the conclusion of alcoholism.
The appeals judge began the husband’s story with a conviction for vehicular homicide before the parties had met. The husband had pleaded to guilty and received probation. One of the conditions was that he abstain drinking. The husband resumed drinking when he moved to Tennessee.
The appeals court outlined numerous cases of his drinking, many of which included driving after drinking.
After reviewing the evidence, the appeals court affirmed the lower court’s finding.
On the child support issue, the appeals court was unable to determine whether the lower court had properly given the husband credit for some of the childcare expenses. For this reason, the appeals court remanded the issue to the lower court for clarification on how they had computed the child support.
The appeals court turned then to the question of the alimony. The court pointed out that, shortly after the husband left the family home, his father leased a luxurious apartment without any indication that he would be responsible for paying the rent. The appeals court reiterated the fact that the husband had a much higher earning capacity and was poised to take over the successful business of his father. The court vacated the portion of the order that dealt with this and remanded it to be modified. In all other respects it upheld the order of the lower court. It also affirmed that attorney fees were awarded.
It denied the appealed requests of both parties for attorney fees.
