Section 15.21 Personal Injury Claims and Proceeds

• Library: Family Law Deskbook and 2014 Supp

E. (§15.21) Personal Injury Claims and Proceeds

An unliquidated claim for damages arising from personal injury during the marriage is marital property for purposes of the dissolution of marriage proceeding. Jobe v. Jobe, 708 S.W.2d 322 (Mo. App. S.D. 1986), abrogated by Mistler v. Mistler, 816 S.W.2d 241, 246 (Mo. App. S.D. 1991). The proceeds of a personal injury settlement received by one of the parties during the marriage are marital. Zimmer v. Zimmer, 770 S.W.2d 514 (Mo. App. W.D. 1989) (annuity settlement); Nixon v. Nixon, 525 S.W.2d 835 (Mo. App. E.D. 1975) (lump-sum settlement proceeds), abrogated by Mistler, 816 S.W.2d 241. This classification is based on the “mechanistic approach” set forth in these cases.

The mechanistic approach has been described as a “literal” one that “looks to the general statutory definitions of marital and separate property and concludes that [if] the award was acquired during the marriage and does not fall into the definition of separate property or into any enumerated exception to the definition of marital property, it must be marital property.”

Mistler, 816 S.W.2d at 246 (quoting Johnson v....