Drayton v. Drayton

65 V.I. 325, 2016 V.I. Supreme LEXIS 32
CourtSupreme Court of The Virgin Islands
DecidedAugust 30, 2016
DocketS. Ct. Civil No. 2015-0068
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 65 V.I. 325 (Drayton v. Drayton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Drayton v. Drayton, 65 V.I. 325, 2016 V.I. Supreme LEXIS 32 (virginislands 2016).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

(August 30, 2016)

Swan, Associate Justice.

Appellant, Freeston Drayton (“Mr. Drayton”), appeals the Superior Court’s amended findings of fact and conclusions of law, which distributed separate and marital property between him and his former wife, Nadia Drayton (“Ms. Drayton”). For the reasons elucidated below, we remand this case to the Superior Court for the equitable distribution of the 2009 Ford Escape vehicle purchased by Mr. Drayton, as well as for the equitable distribution of the parties’ marital debt, consistent with the evidence presented. We affirm the court’s September 1, 2015 amended findings of fact and conclusions of law in all other respects.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Mr. and Ms. Drayton married in St. Croix in August 2000, and two children were bom of the marriage. The parties eventually settled in their marital home in either December 2008 or December 2010, at No. 676 Barren Spot, St. Croix. Ms. Drayton was a housewife for a significant period of the marriage, before she eventually became employed part-time at the local hardware store. She was also the primary caretaker of the children. Mr. Drayton, on the other hand, worked as a construction tradesman and was the primary financial contributor to the household. Mr. Drayton built the parties’ home at No. 676 Barren Spot on land which he had purchased for approximately $22,000, in or about 1995. The deed for the property named him as the sole owner of record. After the parties began residing in the home at No. 676 Barren Spot, Ms. Drayton requested that Mr. Drayton name her as a deed holder to the property, but he refused.

During the marriage, Ms. Drayton owned a home in Antigua, West Indies, which she sold between 2006 and 2007. Ms. Drayton testified that with the proceeds from the home sale, she contributed to the purchase of windows for the parties’ home and paid some of the parties’ credit card bills. Conversely, Mr. Drayton was adamant that Ms. Drayton never contributed financially to the building of the home. During the course of [331]*331the marriage, Mr. Drayton purchased a 2009 Ford Escape, which cost $21,000. At the car dealership, Mr. Drayton gave Ms. Drayton the keys to the Ford Escape, and told her the vehicle was hers. However, Mr. Drayton never transferred the vehicle’s title to Ms. Drayton, and he refused her request for him to effectuate a transfer. Mr. Drayton further testified that he never intended to give the vehicle to Ms. Drayton as a gift.

The parties also accrued credit card debt during the marriage in excess of $20,000. The credit cards were used to purchase household items and supplies, food and childcare, and fund other general expenses for the home. Ms. Drayton further testified that she used the cards to purchase clothing and shoes for the family, including herself. There was no evidence that the credit cards were used for items or purposes other than for the benefit of the household.

Ultimately, the marriage deteriorated and Ms. Drayton left the marital home in February 2013. She filed for divorce four months later, in June 2013. According to Ms. Drayton, her departure from the home was caused by mental and verbal abuse from Mr. Drayton. Mr. Drayton, however, testified that Ms. Drayton told him that she no longer needed to remain married because she had, with his assistance, successfully adjusted her immigration status. Ms. Drayton requested the Superior Court’s permission to return to the home in May 2013, three months after her departure.

By a final divorce decree dated May 5, 2015, the parties’ marriage was formally dissolved, and this case came before the Superior Court for a bench trial on June 15, and June 16, 2015. Pursuant to these hearings, the court entered amended findings of facts and conclusions of law on September 1, 2015. The trial court awarded each party a 50% interest in the proceeds from the sale of the marital home, after Mr. Drayton’s receipt of his pre-marital investment in the home. The court concluded that the 2009 Ford Escape was a gift from Mr. Drayton to Ms. Drayton and awarded Ms. Drayton sole ownership of the vehicle. The court made no distribution of any proceeds from the Antigua home sale, citing insufficient evidence. With the exception of a bed set for which Mr. Drayton was awarded $600, the court found that Mr. Drayton had failed to prove that he was entitled to compensation for other missing personal property, largely comprised of furniture, tools and construction materials. Lastly, the trial court also concluded that Mr. Drayton had failed to prove that he was entitled to any compensation from [332]*332Ms. Drayton to pay the parties’ credit card bills. Mr. Drayton’s timely appeal ensued.

II. JURISDICTION AND STANDARD OF REVIEW

Title 4, section 32(a) of the Virgin Islands Code states that “[t]he Supreme Court shall have jurisdiction over all appeals arising from final judgments, final decrees or final orders of the Superior Court, or as otherwise provided by law.” Given that the Superior Court’s September 1, 2015 amended findings of fact and conclusions of law constitutes a final judgment, we exercise jurisdiction over this appeal. See Bradford v. Cramer, 54 V.I. 669, 671 (V.I. 2011) (final order in divorce case is an appealable judgment).

The standard of review in examining the Superior Court’s application of law is plenary, while the trial court’s findings of fact are reviewed for clear error. Martin v. Martin, 58 V.I. 620, 624-25 (V.I. 2013). We review the Superior Court’s distribution of marital assets in an action for divorce for abuse of discretion. Id. at 625 (citing Harvey v. Christopher, 55 V.I. 565, 572 (V.I. 2011)); Garcia v. Garcia, 59 V.I. 758, 766-67 (V.I. 2013). Lastly, this Court exercises plenary review over questions relating to the Superior Court’s subject matter jurisdiction. Judi’s of St. Croix Car Rental v. Weston, 49 V.I. 396, 399 (V.I. 2008).

III. DISCUSSION

A. The Superior Court possessed subject matter jurisdiction to distribute all of Mr. Drayton and Ms. Drayton’s marital property.

Preliminarily, we are impelled to sua sponte dispose of a jurisdictional issue not raised by either party on appeal or before the Superior Court, but which this Court has not yet addressed. See Virgin Islands Waste Management Auth. v. Bovoni Investments, LLC, 61 V.I. 355, 363 (V.I. 2014) (“[I]t is well established that a court may consider the issue of subject matter jurisdiction sua sponte” (internal quotation marks and citation omitted)); In re Guardianship of Smith, 54 V.I. 517, 527 (V.I. 2010) (an appellate court may sua sponte raise questions regarding a trial court’s subject matter jurisdiction). We observe that Ms. Drayton filed for the dissolution of the marriage in June 2013, at which time the Family Division of the Superior Court had only been conferred jurisdiction to [333]*333distribute “the marital homestead and the personal property of the couple, but not . . . any other real property.” Bradford, 54 V.I. at 676 (citing 16 Y.I.C. § 109(a)(4); 33 V.I.C. § 2305(d)). Subsequently, on December 19, 2014, the Virgin Islands Legislature expanded the Family Division’s jurisdiction in cases in which it dissolves a marriage or declares a marriage void. With the enactment of 16 V.I.C. § 109(a)(7), the Family Division became empowered to decree for the award of all

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
65 V.I. 325, 2016 V.I. Supreme LEXIS 32, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/drayton-v-drayton-virginislands-2016.