The Twelfth District Court of Appeals in Butler County issued a decision on October 26, 2020 in the case of Gaffney v. Gaffney. The Court of Appeals ruled that the trial court had not erred by means of “double dipping” when it awarded Wife 50% of Husband’s incentive stock and 35% of Husband’s gross annual bonus after it had divided the stocks granted during the marriage into equal halves. Husband argued that the trial court had erroneously double dipped when it awarded Wife 50% of Husband’s incentive stock and 35% of Husband’s gross annual bonus after it already included a three-year average of income form the exercise of Husband’s incentive stock and a three-year average of Husband’s annual bonus income in arriving at Husband’s gross annual income for purposes of calculating spousal support and child support.
The Court of Appeals defined double dipping as “double counting of a marital asset, once in property division and again in the spousal support award.” The Court of Appeals, after reviewing the record, found that the trial court’s order did not constitute double dipping on account of what property was divided between the parties and what income was to be factored into the support calculation during the spousal support term. The record reflected that the trial court divided the stocks and stock options that constituted marital property equally. In calculating spousal support the trial court adopted a tiered support model with Tier 1 support tied to his base salary and Tier 2 support was for 35% of any future gross bonus, commission, or incentive pay that Husband would receive from his employer during the spousal support term, beginning July 1, 2019.
The Court of Appeals ultimately found that the trial court did not err in its calculation of Husband’s support obligations. As a result the Court of Appeals found Husband’s sole assignment of error without merit and was thereby overruled.
