Sullivan v. Sullivan’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

23 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 23 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “When dissolution of a marriage is decreed, the court may order payment of such alimony by one party to the other and division of property as may be reasonable, having regard for the circumstances of the parties, duration of the marriage, a history of the contributions to the marriage by each party, including contributions to the care and education of . the children, and interruption of personal careers or educational opportunities____ While the criteria for reaching a reasonable division of property and a reasonable award of alimony may overlap, the two serve different purposes and are to be considered separately. The purpose of a property division is to distribute the marital assets equitably between the parties. The purpose of alimony is to provide for the continued maintenance or support of one party by the other when the relative economic circumstances and the other criteria enumerated in this section make it appropriate.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Preston v. Preston

2. “While we have not heretofore said in exact words how property acquired by inheritance or gift during the marriage should be considered, an examination of our previous decisions discloses that when awarding property in a dissolution of marriage, property acquired by one of the parties through gift or inheritance ordinarily is set off to the individual receiving the inheritance or gift and is not considered a part of the marital estate.... An exception to the rule is where both of the spouses have contributed to the improvement or operation of the property which one of the parties owned prior to the marriage or received by way of gift or inheritance, or the spouse not owning the property prior to the marriage or not receiving the inheritance or gift has significantly cared for the property during the marriage.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Buche v. Buche

3. “there was no evidence indicating that [the noninheriting spouse] either contributed to improvement or operation of [the inheriting spouse’s] property owned jointly with her brother or that [the noninheriting spouse] had significantly cared for the property during his marriage to [the inheriting spouse]. The record is silent regarding any involvement by [the noninheriting spouse] in the care of [the inheriting spouse’s] jointly owned farmland or the farm operations conducted on that property.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Preston v. Preston