Garcia v. Garcia

CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 13, 2015
Docket32,916
StatusUnpublished

This text of Garcia v. Garcia (Garcia v. Garcia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Garcia v. Garcia, (N.M. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

This memorandum opinion was not selected for publication in the New Mexico Appellate Reports. Please see Rule 12-405 NMRA for restrictions on the citation of unpublished memorandum opinions. Please also note that this electronic memorandum opinion may contain computer-generated errors or other deviations from the official paper version filed by the Court of Appeals and does not include the filing date.

1 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO

2 BERNARD GARCIA,

3 Petitioner-Appellant,

4 v. NO. 32,916

5 JODEANE R. GARCIA,

6 Respondent-Appellee.

7 APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF SANTA FE COUNTY 8 Sylvia F. LaMar, District Judge

9 Mary Jo Snyder 10 Santa Fe, NM

11 for Appellant

12 Jodeane R. Garcia 13 Santa Fe, NM

14 Pro Se Appellee

15 MEMORANDUM OPINION

16 WECHSLER, Judge. 1 {1} Petitioner Bernard Garcia (Husband) appeals from the district court’s order

2 denying him certain relief in connection with the division of property and allocation

3 of debts with Respondent Jodeane R. Garcia (Wife) and order denying his motion for

4 reconsideration. On appeal, Husband contends that the district court erred by (1)

5 failing to require Wife to reimburse Husband for an increase in mortgage payments

6 caused by Wife’s recurring late or non-payments; (2) failing to require Wife to pay

7 “all or a major portion” of the balance of the second mortgage due to her actions or

8 inactions resulting in the sale of the community residence below its appraised value;

9 and (3) deciding that Wife was not obligated for rental payments for her occupancy

10 of the community residence during and after the divorce proceedings. We affirm.

11 BACKGROUND

12 {2} In the course of the dissolution of marriage proceeding, the parties entered into

13 a marital settlement agreement (MSA) on August 3, 2011 to resolve the issues

14 between them. On August 4, 2011, the court adopted the MSA as part of its final

15 bifurcated decree of dissolution of marriage and distribution of assets and debts. The

16 MSA acknowledged that the parties shared an equal community interest in their

17 former community residence, the Mesa Vista property. They agreed to place the Mesa

18 Vista property for sale, that Wife would continue to reside on the property pending

19 sale, and that Wife would make certain floor treatments at her expense. As to the two

2 1 mortgages on the property with Los Alamos National Bank (LANB), the parties

2 agreed that Husband would continue to pay the first mortgage and that Wife, as

3 consideration for her residing at the property, would pay the second mortgage. As to

4 property expenses, the parties agreed (1) that Wife would “keep the property in good,

5 clean and ‘showable’ condition for sale purposes at all times” and (2) that “[a]ny

6 exceptional or major repairs or required maintenance (e.g., furnace, roof, etc.) shall

7 first be discussed and agreed upon by the parties, and any resulting agreed-upon costs

8 shall then be equally divided between the parties.”

9 {3} On July 30, 2012, Husband filed an emergency motion for immediate

10 permission to accept sales offer/make counter-offers, and sell the residential property.

11 Wife, then a self-represented litigant, did not file a timely response. The district court

12 found, on August 17, 2012, that the Mesa Vista property had been on the market for

13 more than two years without any offers; that Wife had “failed to keep the property on

14 the market for sale, in good and clean condition, making it available to realtors, while

15 living in it rent-free[.]” The court further found that the property “had to be pulled off

16 the market due to non-access and poor condition”; that Wife had “consistently failed

17 to timely or fully pay the [second] mortgage, and is currently seriously in default”;

18 that “the value and condition of the property have fallen considerably” since Wife

19 declined to exercise her option to purchase the property; and that Wife has indicated

3 1 that she would not cooperate in the sale of the property. The district court ordered that

2 Husband be granted a limited power of attorney in order to complete a sale of the

3 property and to reduce or eliminate possible deficiencies. It required Husband to

4 prepare an accounting and reserved decision of Husband’s request for “offset[s]”

5 pending the outcome of the sale of the property.

6 {4} The district court held a hearing on the “offsets” on March 11, 2013. Husband

7 and Joe Sabo, the parties’ realtor, testified similarly to the district court’s August 17,

8 2012 findings. More specifically, as stated in the court’s March 13, 2013 order, Wife

9 insisted upon a higher offering price than an appraisal before the parties agreed in the

10 MSA to reduce the price over 45-day intervals; that the house was “in poor condition

11 (dog feces, urine in home)” and the yard was unkept; and that the home was difficult

12 to show because Wife required notice of showings. Husband testified that he hauled

13 out trash, scheduled clean-up visits, and tried to arrange for the pets. Husband took

14 possession of the property in July 2012, performed cleaning and repair, and placed

15 it back on the market. An offer was received for $160,000, less than the original

16 appraised value of $195,000 and less than the balances of the two mortgages. Wife

17 refused to consider the offer or make a counter-offer, leading to Husband’s filing of

18 his emergency motion. The property sold on November 6, 2012 for $160,000. Wife

19 testified that the property was always in disrepair and that she had reduced the

4 1 balance on the second mortgage to $33,000 before she lost her unempolyment

2 benefits and could no longer make the payments.

3 {5} The pay-off balance on the LANB second mortgage was $49,611.09. The net

4 sales proceeds yielded $16,377.63 as payment toward the mortgage. Husband

5 borrowed the balance, $33,233.46, from LANB to pay off the second mortgage. The

6 loan included a finance charge of $12,171.54, for a total amount of $45,405.

7 {6} Husband requested the district court to offset amounts he owed Wife under the

8 division of their property by allocating to Wife the total amount of the promissory

9 note he secured to pay off the second mortgage balance of $45,405. Husband also

10 requested that he be awarded from Wife his share of bills for utilities and taxes that

11 he paid in connection with the Mesa Vista property ($905.11), cleanup and dump fees

12 also in connection with the Mesa Vista property ($850), one-half of the LANB

13 appraisal fee ($253.23), attorney fees ($2500 minimum), rent for the Mesa Vista

14 property ($7200), and excess mortgage payments that he made ($6840).

15 {7} The district court entered its order on March 13, 2013. It awarded Husband

16 $489.41 for utility bills, $850 for property cleanup and dump expenses, $253.23 for

17 one-half of the appraisal, $22,702.50 for one-half of the promissory note, and $2,500

18 for attorney fees. As a result, the district court offset the $38,000 that Husband owed

19 Wife with $26,795.14, leaving a balance due Wife of $11,204.86. The district court

5 1 further reduced this amount by $5,000 of the excess mortgage payments claimed by

2 Husband, resulting in a net balance due Wife of $6204.86. Both parties filed motions

3 for reconsideration, which the district court denied.

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Bluebook (online)
Garcia v. Garcia, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/garcia-v-garcia-nmctapp-2015.