Turner v. Turner9/30/2002
t's expenses "are not reasonable and should not be considered in determining Mrs. Turner's financial needs in order to maintain the status quo." Without explanation, it rejected those expenses. At the same time, the court found other expenses "excessive" and reduced them, without any reasons for its conclusions.
In all, the court rejected over $1500 of appellant's expenses and found "excessive" appellant's monthly expenses for cigarettes ($273); groceries ($390); household supplies ($477); recreation and entertainment (which included restaurants, videos, and books) ($546); satellite TV ($95); and satellite repairs ($31). It reduced those expenses from $1822 to $1200.
In contrast, the court did not comment on appellee's current monthly expenses. Rather, it appears that appellee's expenses were implicitly accepted by the court. Appellee's expenses included $425 for groceries and household supplies; $60 for appliances; furniture expenses of $200; and recreation expenses totaling $570. (The recreation expenses consisted of $110 for video rentals, $40 for movies, $30 for cable, $150 for clubs, and $240 for restaurants.) Appellee's expenses were necessarily a component of the court's consideration as to alimony, because appellee's expenses affect his ability pay alimony.
When all is said and done, after carving away appellant's expenses for legal fees and the mortgage, the amount of her expenses is quite comparable to appellee's claim of $7400 per month in projected expenses. Once the mortgage for the marital home is satisfied, appellant expects expenses of $10,000 monthly. After the deduction of legal fees associated with the current litigation, a sum of over $3000 per month, appellant's total expenses would decline even further. Yet, to meet his expenses, which the court accepted, appellee will have available to him a salary of at least $175,000 to $200,000, according to the court, while appellant will have $59,000 at her disposal, plus some unknown amount of investment income.
With respect to appellant's expense claim of $546 a month for recreation and entertainment, we observe that the court expressly found that expense excessive, while implicitly accepting appellee's claim of a comparable amount. Considering the parties' economic status during the marriage, it is not evident why the court considered the expense "excessive" for appellant but not for appellee. Moreover, whatever we may personally believe as to the merits of cigarette smoking, it is not illegal for appellant to smoke. It is undisputed that appellant smoked three packs of cigarettes per day, and so her monthly expenses for cigarettes would easily amount to $273, as she claimed.
Apart from appellant's dissipation claim and her Crawford credits claim, both of which are discussed infra, no challenge has been raised by either party with respect to the monetary award. We shall, however, vacate the monetary award, because of our disposition of the alimony award. The factors underlying alimony, a monetary award, and counsel fees are so interrelated that, when a trial court considers a claim for any one of them, it must weigh the award of any other. See F.L. ยงยง 8-205(b)(9), (10); 11-106(b)(11)(ii); and 11-110(c)(1). See also Doser v. Doser, 106 Md. App. 329, 335 n.1 (1995); Strauss v. Strauss, 101 Md. App. 490, 511 (1994), cert. denied, 337 Md. 90 (1995); Rogers v. Rogers, 80 Md. App. 575, 588-89 (1989); Holston v. Holston, 58 Md. App. 308, 327, cert. denied, 300 Md. 484 (1984). Therefore, when this Court vacates one such award, we often vacate the remaining awards for re-evaluation. See, e.g., Alston v. Alston, 331 Md. 496, 509 (1993) (remanding alimony issue upon reversal of monetary award); Randolp
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