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Schmitt v. Schmitt2/8/2001
APPEAL from a judgment of the circuit court for Dodge County: DANIEL W. KLOSSNER, Judge. Affirmed.
. Arnold Schmitt appeals a divorce judgment, contending that the trial court erred by awarding him too little maintenance for a too limited time period. We conclude that the trial court did not erroneously exercise its discretion in determining the amount or duration of maintenance. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment.
BACKGROUND
. Arnold and Kathleen Schmitt filed this action for divorce in 1998, and a trial was held. They were married in 1960, and in 1978 they filed for divorce but reconciled. In 1991, they again filed for divorce, but the action was dismissed. On Arnold's request, Kathleen stayed with him to assist in dealing with the contaminated land that they owned. The divorce action subsequently filed in 1998 is the subject of this action.
. After getting married, Kathleen began her career as a stay-at-home mother, raising their four children. In 1976, she began working outside the home at Shopko, where she worked for almost twenty years. In about 1989, she embarked on part-time employment as a real estate sales agent, and in 1996, began doing this on a full-time basis. As of the date of trial, Kathleen worked seventy hours per week, and earned $6,475.63 gross and $3,744.63 net monthly income. As a real estate agent, she claimed numerous expenses, including $400 per month on clothing, and $900 per month on gifts and donations.
. Arnold began his career working at a gas station approximately sixty-five hours per week. He also took on a newspaper route to earn extra money. At some point, Arnold was compensated for his part-time position of alderperson. For the past sixteen years, Arnold has worked as a rural postal delivery worker. He works approximately twenty-nine hours per week (six days) for $15.36 an hour, plus $4.15 per hour for "equipment maintenance" on his vehicle. He does not receive any other benefits from the post office, including retirement or funded health insurance. He has had problems with his back for several years. He testified that he never considered getting a second job. Arnold believed that his age and back injury would prevent him from getting a factory job, and that there is no job other than his current one where he could earn a comparable wage.
. Kathleen testified that she and Arnold had lived "separate lives" for much of their marriage. They lived in the same house, but on different levels, and did not sleep together. Both had separate bank accounts, from which they made purchases at will. They shared some expenses: Arnold paid taxes on the house; Kathleen paid for most of the house maintenance, but they shared in fixing the roof; and they shared groceries, and took turns paying the electric bill. Kathleen moved out of the house in the year preceding the divorce trial.
. Arnold disagreed that he and his wife lived separate lives since 1991 because they did some socializing together, and they shared household expenses. Arnold testified that they had a mutual understanding that he did not want to socialize with her. He testified that he went to dinner with his wife four to six times in the two years before the divorce was filed.
. Based on the most recent financial information available, Arnold's accounting expert testified that Kathleen would have to pay Arnold $2,533 per month to equalize their incomes. Kathleen did not present any accounting expert.
. At the time of the divorce trial in 1999, Kathleen was fifty-seven years old and Arnold was fifty-nine. The main issue at the trial was the amount and duration of maintenance to be awarded to Arnold. The pa
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