Summary 2009 WY 134

Summary of Decision issued November 6, 2009

Summaries are prepared by Law Librarians and are not official statements of the Wyoming Supreme Court

Case Name: Pond v. Pond

Citation: 2009 WY 134

Docket Number: S-08-0253

Appeal from the District Court of Campbell County, Honorable John R. Perry, Judge

Representing Appellant (Defendant): Dwight F. Hurich, Hurich Law Office, Gillette, Wyoming

Representing Appellee (Plaintiff): Rex O. Arney and Vincent P. Schutte of Brown, Drew & Massey, LLP, Sheridan, Wyoming

Issues: Whether the Trial Court abused its discretion in making an equitable division of the assets and debts of the parties, when the Trial Court provided the marital estate should be equalized but then failed to consider the debts each party would take.
Holdings: The disposition of marital property is committed to the sound discretion of the district court and will not be disturbed absent a manifest abuse of that discretion. Abuse of discretion occurs only when the disposition shocks the conscience of the Court and appears so unfair and inequitable that reasonable persons could not abide it.

Dividing a marital estate is not necessarily a mechanical process but rather is guided by considering the factors in Wyo. Stat. § 20-2-114 (2009). The district court has the discretion to determine what weight should be given each of these individual factors and to form a distributive scheme appropriate to the peculiar circumstances of each individual case. The goal of marital property division is to reach an equitable result.

In the instant appeal, Appellant contends that, by using the term “equalize,” the district court intended both parties to receive roughly equivalent dollar amounts from the division of the marital estate. In Wyoming, the distribution of a marital estate is equalized within the context of the respective equities of the parties. In other words, in a divorce proceeding a district court is required to divide property equitably, not necessarily monetarily equally. Indeed, a just and equitable distribution is as likely as not to be monetarily unequal. There is nothing in the record or the district court’s final order to support Appellant’s assumption that the district court intended to order a 50/50 monetary split. Specifically, there is no evidence that the district court failed to take into account the debts of the parties in reaching its final distributive scheme. At trial, Appellant introduced an exhibit representing the marital debts. The district court, in its final order, expressly accepted the exhibit as accurately reflecting the debts. The final order explicitly divided the debt between the parties as the district court determined equitable. The district court then ordered Appellant to pay Wife to equalize the “marital estate,” not just the marital assets. It is extremely doubtful the district court neglected to take the marital debt into account in its decision when the final order so thoroughly discusses the debt. Since all existing indicators point to the district court’s final order “equalizing” the marital estate with both the assets and the liabilities in mind, when it used the term “equalize,” the district court intended to divide the property equitably but not equally.

While Husband’s appellate argument is marginal, as is his compliance with the rules, the appeal is not so egregious as to merit sanctions.

Appellant has failed to establish that the district court erred in dividing the marital estate. The district court’s division of the marital estate, even if not equal, is equitable. The decision of district court is affirmed. Sanctions will not be imposed on the Appellant.

Affirmed.

J. Golden delivered the decision of the Court.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/yapokem .

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