Johanna L. Gonsewski v. Craig W. Gonsewski

Summary

The Tennessee Supreme Court held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying alimony in futuro to a forty-three-year-old wife with a college degree, good health, sixteen-plus years of stable state employment at $72,000 per year, and a slightly larger share of the marital estate, because an income disparity alone does not justify long-term support where the record shows no infeasibility of rehabilitation and no demonstrated need. It further held that the award of the wife's attorney's fees as alimony in solido was unwarranted because she had adequate property and income, and the parties' mutual litigiousness supported the trial court's denial of fees to both sides. Finally, it held that the trial court's general denial of alimony sufficiently encompassed transitional alimony and that denial was not an abuse of discretion given the wife's demonstrated capacity for self-sufficiency. The Court reversed the Court of Appeals and reinstated the trial court's judgment.