Houx v. Houx

2006 WY 102, 140 P.3d 648, 2006 Wyo. LEXIS 106, 2006 WL 2345987
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 15, 2006
Docket05-260
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 2006 WY 102 (Houx v. Houx) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Houx v. Houx, 2006 WY 102, 140 P.3d 648, 2006 Wyo. LEXIS 106, 2006 WL 2345987 (Wyo. 2006).

Opinion

KITE, Justice.

[¶ 1] Jay D. Houx (Husband) and Kathy Houx (Wife) were divorced in 2005. In dividing the marital property, the trial court awarded the marital home to Husband and *650 ordered him to pay Wife for her share of the home. The trial court valued the marital home at $356,000 — the midpoint between the amount of an unaccepted purchase offer made on the property and the appraised value. Husband appeals, claiming the district court abused its discretion in considering the purchase offer as evidence of the value of the home because the offer: 1) was not accepted by the parties; 2) violated the statute of frauds; and 3) was not introduced as evidence at trial. We affirm.

ISSUES

[¶ 2] Husband states the issue for our consideration as follows:

Did the trial court abuse its discretion in its valuation of the parties’ real estate by considering an offer to purchase real estate that:
1. was not accepted by either party;
2. violates the statute of frauds; and
3. was not offered nor accepted into evidence.

Wife states the issue as follows:

Did the district court properly distribute the marital property?

FACTS

[¶ 3] Husband and Wife were married in 1981. In 1994, they purchased a home located at 216 East Cole Road in Wheatland, Wyoming, together with 154 acres of land. In 2004, Wife filed for divorce. Husband accepted service of the complaint for divorce and summons but did not file an answer. The trial court entered an entry of default. Two weeks later, the trial court entered a decree of divorce. In Husband’s absence, the trial court accepted the values Wife placed on the property and her suggested division. 1 Husband filed a motion to set aside the default and for relief from the decree. 2 Following a hearing, the trial court ordered the default judgment set aside on the grounds Husband had now made an appearance and the divorce involved property of undetermined value requiring an eviden-tiary hearing prior to entry of a decree.

[¶ 4] In the meantime, Husband hired an appraiser to assess the value of the property. Husband’s appraiser valued the home and 154 acres at $332,000. Wife also hired an appraiser. Based upon her understanding Husband might keep the home and twenty acres and sell the remainder of the property, she asked her appraiser to value only the home and twenty acres. He valued that portion of the property at $204,000.

[¶ 5] Husband then listed the property for sale in three different parcels: the east end consisting of eighty acres at $1,800 per acre (a total-list price of $144,000); the west end consisting of forty acres at $3,000 per acre (a total list price of $120,000); and the entire 154 acres and the home at a total list price of $395,000. Husband quickly received a purchase offer of $380,000 for the entire property. Husband and Wife mutually agreed not to accept the offer because they did not agree with the contingencies placed on the offer. 3

[¶ 6] Thereafter, the trial court held an evidentiary hearing on Wife’s complaint for divorce. The parties presented evidence concerning the reasons for the divorce, their respective employment, retirement accounts, and life insurance policies, Husband’s 401K, a time share in which Husband and Wife owned one-half interest, dental and vision insurance and the cost of the appraisals. From the record before us, it appears the *651 primary dispute concerned the value of the home and 154 acres of real property and how to equitably divide it between the parties. Husband and Wife appear to have reached substantial agreement as to how to divide other assets and liabilities within the marital estate.

[¶ 7] During the divorce trial, Wife called her appraiser to testify concerning his valuation of the home and twenty acres. She also introduced the written appraisal as an exhibit. Wife then called Husband to testify. Among other matters, he testified about listing the property for sale. He testified he determined the price at which each parcel was listed himself, and received offers on the property. When Wife’s counsel asked him about the offers, Husband’s counsel objected on relevance grounds, asserting offers had no bearing on the issue before the court. The trial court overruled the objection and Husband testified about the offers he received on the parcels, including the $380,000 offer for the entire property. Although Wife’s counsel referred to a copy of the written purchase offer during her examination of Husband, she did not attempt to introduce it into evidence and the individuals who made the offer were not called to testify. The only evidence concerning the $380,000 purchase offer was the testimony of Husband and Wife.

[¶ 8] During his testimony, Husband stated he believed the minimum fair market value for the entire property was $332,000, the amount at which his appraiser valued the property. He stated he believed the maximum fair market value of the entire property was $395,000, the amount at which he listed the property.

[¶ 9] Wife testified and then rested her case. Husband called his appraiser who testified he valued the entire property at $332,000. Husband introduced a copy of the written appraisal as an exhibit. Husband testified he calculated the value of the entire property at $332,000 based upon the appraisal. From that amount he deducted the outstanding mortgage to arrive at a total equity of $102,258.38. Dividing that figure in half, he testified he believed the party’s respective equity in the property was $51,129.19. From that amount, he deducted various- expenses he believed were attributable to Wife, resulting in a proposed payment to Wife of $33,507.67 to equalize the property distribution.

[¶ 10] In rebuttal, Wife’s counsel recalled Wife to the witness stand and introduced as an exhibit a summary of Wife’s computation of her equity in the property. Wife valued the property at $468,000, the combined total of the $204,000 appraisal of the house and twenty acres and Husband’s list prices of $144,000 for the eighty acre parcel and $120,000 for the forty acre parcel. From the $468,000, she deducted the outstanding mortgage, divided the resulting figure by two and arrived at a figure of $128,000 for her equity in the property.

[¶ 11] In its ruling at the close of the evidence, the trial court valued the property at $356,000, the mid-point between the $380,000 purchase offer and the $332,000 appraisal value. From that figure, the district court deducted the outstanding mortgage and divided the resulting figure of $143,774.15 in half, leaving $71,887.07 in equity for each party. The trial court then deducted other expenses attributable to each party and arrived at a figure of $54,896.80 to be paid by Husband to Wife in exchange for Husband receiving the home and acreage. Husband appeals the property division, claiming evidence of the.unaccepted purchase offer was not admissible.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2006 WY 102, 140 P.3d 648, 2006 Wyo. LEXIS 106, 2006 WL 2345987, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/houx-v-houx-wyo-2006.