Gertler v. Gertler
2008-CA-001367 01/15/2010 2010 WL 135101
Opinion by Judge Acree; Judge Lambert and Senior Judge Harris concurred. The Court affirmed a judgment of the circuit court classifying certain gifts to the parties in a dissolution action as marital property and awarding sole custody of the parties’ children to their mother. The Court first held that the trial court did not err in classifying the monetary gifts from appellant’s parents as marital property. Appellant’s and his father’s testimony did not alone satisfy appellant’s burden of establishing that the gifts were non-marital and the judge, as the trier of fact, could believe or not believe, in whole or in part, the testimony. The Court next held that the trial court did not err in finding that appellant would not be able to cooperate with his ex-wife in future decision-making regarding their children and therefore, awarding sole custody of the parties’ children to their mother was not arbitrary, unreasonable, or unfair.
