## Facts

- Husband and wife married in 1989, had two children, and separated in November 1995.
- Wife filed for divorce on August 19, 1996 in the Circuit Court of the City of Newport News.
- After a September 19, 1996 hearing, the court entered a pendente lite support order (entered October 1, 1996) requiring husband to pay $120 per week in child support and $80 per week in spousal support, beginning September 20, 1996.
- Husband paid no support until January 1997.
- On September 28, 1996, after the pendente lite effective date, husband won approximately $4.9 million from a $2 lottery ticket, payable in annual installments over twenty years (gross annual payout exceeding $243,000).
- Wife sought to have the lottery winnings treated as held for her and the children by constructive trust, arguing the ticket money should have gone to court-ordered support.
- The circuit court denied the constructive-trust request.
- The circuit court later increased support and entered orders addressing the parties’ finances in light of husband’s lottery income, including child support, ongoing spousal support, and payments toward marital debts.
- The court referred the case to a commissioner in chancery to address grounds for divorce and financial issues; after a commissioner’s hearing, the commissioner recommended, among other things, a no-fault divorce based on one-year separation, denial of a constructive trust, a spousal-support award, and an allocation of marital debt.
- The circuit court entered a final decree of divorce that largely adopted the commissioner’s recommendations, with modifications, including an award of $1,000 per month in spousal support.
- Husband appealed the spousal-support award as too high; wife cross-appealed the denial of a constructive trust and challenged the court’s rulings on fault, marital-debt allocation, and spousal support.

## Issues

1. Whether the circuit court erred by refusing to impose a constructive trust on husband’s lottery winnings based on his failure to pay pendente lite support before buying the winning ticket.
2. Whether the circuit court erred by granting a no-fault divorce based on one-year separation instead of entering a fault-based divorce.
3. Whether the circuit court abused its discretion in allocating marital debt by declining to assign all marital debt to husband.
4. Whether the circuit court abused its discretion in setting spousal support at $1,000 per month (challenged by husband as excessive and by wife as insufficient).

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals of Virginia issued an unpublished memorandum opinion and summarily affirmed under Rule 5A:27.
- The court affirmed the denial of a constructive trust on the lottery winnings.
- The court affirmed the divorce decree, including the no-fault ground based on one-year separation.
- The court affirmed the marital-debt allocation.
- The court affirmed the spousal-support award of $1,000 per month and rejected both parties’ challenges to the amount.

## Legal Principles

- A constructive trust is an equitable remedy imposed to prevent unjust retention of property; it generally requires proof of circumstances such as fraud, breach of confidence, or other wrongdoing tied to acquiring or holding the property.
- Failure to pay court-ordered support may be addressed through support enforcement and arrearage remedies; it does not automatically give the recipient a property interest in the obligor’s later-acquired assets or justify a constructive trust on a windfall.
- Spousal support and equitable distribution determinations are reviewed for abuse of discretion and will be upheld if supported by the record and consistent with governing law.
- A trial court may grant a divorce on a statutory no-fault ground when the evidence supports it, even if one party argues for a fault-based ground.
- Allocation of marital debts is part of equitable distribution and rests within the trial court’s discretion; a higher post-separation income does not require that spouse to assume all marital obligations.

## Conclusion

Ruffin v. Ruffin affirmed, in a summary memorandum decision, the circuit court’s final divorce decree, including its refusal to impose a constructive trust on the husband’s lottery winnings and its discretionary rulings on the no-fault divorce ground, division of marital debt, and the $1,000-per-month spousal-support award.


Ruffin v. Ruffin, 2000 WL 198078 (2000)