In re Marriage of Dunlap
Case Date: 01/22/1998
Court: 4th District Appellate
Docket No: 4-97-0295
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IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FOURTH DISTRICT In Re: the Marriage of ) Appeal from KAY BEA DUNLAP, ) Circuit Court of Petitioner-Appellant, ) Sangamon County and ) No. 95D967 JOHN W. DUNLAP, ) Respondent-Appellee. ) Honorable ) Robert J. Eggers, ) Judge Presiding. _________________________________________________________________ PRESIDING JUSTICE GARMAN delivered the opinion of the court: Petitioner Kay Bea Dunlap filed for divorce on grounds of adultery. Respondent John W. Dunlap's counterpetition alleged mental cruelty. The parties agreed to, and the trial court accepted, stipulated values and division of certain properties and the nonmarital nature of other properties. Kay's petition was granted and, in the absence of a complete agreement between the parties, the trial court entered judgment dividing their property and awarding Kay maintenance. Kay appeals both the property division and the maintenance award. I. BACKGROUND Kay and John were married in April 1971 in Peoria, Illinois. Kay was a widow with four children; John was a widower whose first wife and four daughters had been killed in an automo- bile accident. He had one surviving child. Kay and John each adopted the other's children; they had no children together. Kay and John separated in May 1994. Kay filed a petition for dissolution of marriage in the circuit court of Sangamon County in November 1995 and, in December 1995, John responded, denying the allegations in Kay's petition and filing his own petition for dissolution. At a hearing on grounds in October 1996, the court found in favor of Kay, and a stipulation of the parties was filed containing, among other terms: an agreed value of $3,025 per acre for a 40-acre tract of marital farmland; an agreement that John would purchase Kay's share in the 40-acre tract for $60,500; and an agreement that another 27-acre tract was John's nonmarital property. The trial court issued its opinion in February 1997 and entered judgment in April 1997. At the time of the entry of the judgment of dissolution of marriage, Kay was 53 years of age and John was 62. They had been married 26 years. This appeal followed. The family lived for 22 |