Divorce – Maintenance

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WI Court of Appeals – District III

Case Name: Sayuri Gildersleeve v.  Troy D. Gildersleeve

Case No.: 2018AP120

Officials: Stark, P.J., Hruz and Seidl, JJ.

Focus: Divorce – Maintenance

Sayuri Gildersleeve appeals a divorce judgment that terminated her marriage to Troy Gildersleeve. Sayuri argues that the circuit court erroneously exercised its discretion when awarding maintenance and dividing the parties’ property. Specifically, she contends the court erred by: (1) failing to order a maintenance award that satisfies the twin objectives of maintenance—i.e., support and fairness; (2) including certain debts in its division of property while excluding the assets that corresponded to those debts; and (3) failing to determine whether Troy incurred over $40,000 in debt after the court issued a temporary order prohibiting either party from incurring any additional debt.

We conclude: (1) the circuit court’s maintenance award fails to satisfy the support and fairness objectives as it unfairly consigns Sayuri to live at a subsistence level while allowing Troy to continue living at his pre-divorce standard of living; (2) the court failed to adequately explain why it assigned certain debts to the parties in the property division without including their corresponding asset values; and (3) the record is unclear as to whether Troy incurred the challenged debts in violation of a temporary order. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for the circuit court to reconsider the ordering of maintenance and the property division in a manner consistent with our decision.

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Derek A Hawkins is trademark corporate counsel for Harley-Davidson. Hawkins oversees the prosecution and maintenance of the Harley-Davidson’s international trademark portfolio in emerging markets.