George E. Carr, Sr., Plaintiff Below, Appellant v. Dottie L. (carr) Hancock, Defendant Below, Appellee

Summary

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed a family court's June 3, 2003 divorce order equitably distributing the parties' property, awarding the wife rehabilitative spousal support, and requiring the husband to pay up to $2,500 of her attorney's fees, together with the circuit court's order refusing review of that order. The court held that the parties' 1992 antenuptial agreement protected only property owned before the marriage, so property individually acquired during the marriage remained marital and subject to equitable distribution. It declined to remand for reconstruction of a hearing record marred by blank, incomplete, or missing tapes, placing the burden of creating a clear record on the litigants, and found no abuse of discretion in the support and fee awards given the wife's post-separation unemployment and the parties' income disparity.