In re the Marriage of Code

380 P.3d 1073, 280 Or. App. 266, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 1003
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedAugust 17, 2016
Docket111250D9; A154916
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 380 P.3d 1073 (In re the Marriage of Code) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re the Marriage of Code, 380 P.3d 1073, 280 Or. App. 266, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 1003 (Or. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

EGAN, J.

Husband appeals a judgment of dissolution, arguing that the trial court erred in its property division and in awarding attorney fees to wife. Specifically, with respect to the property division, husband argues that the trial court erred in setting the value of his podiatry practice that was subject to equitable division. We conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in making the property division or the award of attorney fees to wife. Based on that conclusion, we do not reach wife’s conditional cross-assignment of error, and, accordingly, we affirm.

Neither party requests that we exercise our discretion to review this case de novo, ORS 19.415(3). Thus, we view the facts consistently with the trial court’s express and implied findings, as supplemented by uncontroverted information from the record. Morton and Morton, 252 Or App 525, 527 n 1, 287 P3d 1227 (2012). We state the following facts in accordance with that standard.

The parties were married in 2003, and, at the time of dissolution in 2013, husband was 53 and wife was 51. In 2005, the couple had a child. The parties stipulated to wife’s custody of their child and to the parenting time schedule.

At the time of the dissolution, wife was working part time as a case management nurse, earning approximately $39,000 per year. Prior to the couple’s marriage and until the birth of the couple’s child, wife had worked as an operating room nurse. After their child was born, wife stopped working for two years, and then, in 2007, started to work part time doing case management. The court found that wife could work full time as a nurse and set her income at $77,704, which is the average salary for a nurse in the area.

Husband is a podiatrist and has owned his practice since before the marriage. The court determined that husband’s personal income from his practice is $309,511 per year, based on a five-year average, which is well above the average income for a podiatrist in Oregon. Most of husband’s income from his practice is from Medicare and insurance reimbursements.

[268]*268With regard to the value of husband’s business, the parties provided competing expert testimony. Wife’s expert, Kramer, opined that husband’s practice had an overall goodwill value of $600,000. He attributed 60 percent, or $360,000, of that total goodwill to enterprise goodwill. In separating the enterprise goodwill from husband’s personal goodwill, Kramer “looked at numerous conditions surrounding [husband’s] practice, including competition and the use of his name and his business name or not and other factors.” Kramer’s written report of his valuation opinion was admitted into evidence without objection. In his report, Kramer discussed in more detail his overall valuation opinion, based on the “excess earnings” approach, and his opinion of the enterprise versus personal goodwill of husband’s practice, which he determined was “heavily influenced” by the ability of competitors to thrive in the reasonably small community. He concluded that the enterprise goodwill of $360,000, plus tangible assets, should be subject to marital distribution.

Husband’s expert, Schaub, testified that husband’s business had a fair market value of $365,000 — made up of assets, accounts receivable, and total goodwill — which, when the liabilities of $122,000 were subtracted, resulted in a net fair market value of $243,000. Schaub opined that enterprise goodwill, in general, makes up zero to 33 percent of the total goodwill of a professional practice. For husband’s practice, he opined that, based on location, staff, telephone number, website, type of patient, insurance plans, and new patient referral sources, the enterprise goodwill of the business was 24 percent of the total goodwill, resulting in $72,000 of enterprise goodwill and $227,000 of personal goodwill. Schaub testified that, as a result, husband’s business had a net value for purposes of property distribution of $16,000 (which is the net fair market value minus personal goodwill). Schaub also valued husband’s business as of 2002, before the couple married. Schaub testified that the premarital value of the business was $124,000, because the collections in 2002 were 51 percent of the 2012 collections. As a result, husband advocated that his business had no value for purposes of the marital property distribution.

The parties also submitted evidence with regard to 5,000 shares of Surgery Center stock held in husband’s [269]*269name, which the parties stipulated had a value of $116,900. Husband testified that he had purchased 3,000 of those shares in 2007 and that he had discussed the purchase with wife “ [i] n the context that I would like it to be a joint venture.” Husband testified that he had purchased the remaining 2,000 shares in 2010, and “to the best of [his] recollection” paid for them with an inheritance he received when his mother died.

As relevant on appeal, the trial court concluded that the fair market valuation of husband’s practice was $304,000 (enterprise goodwill as determined by Kramer, plus assets and accounts receivable, and minus liabilities as provided by Schaub) and would be subject to equitable distribution; the 3,000 shares of Surgery Center stock purchased in 2007 were subject to equitable distribution; the 2,000 shares of Surgery Center stock purchased in 2010 were husband’s separate property; and wife was entitled to an award of attorney fees. The court provided the following reasoning for each of those issues in its letter opinion:

“The court has reviewed the assets and liabilities spreadsheet prepared by the parties [and] will divide the assets and liabilities in accordance with the evidence. On most issues the parties are not too far apart. One of the major disagreements is the valuation and distribution of husband’s practice. The court appreciated the testimony of witnesses Schaub and Kramer and ultimately concludes that Mr. Kramer’s testimony is credible and adopts it with a slight modification. The court concludes that the enterprise goodwill of the practice is $360,000, or 60% of the total goodwill in the practice worth $600,000.00. In addition to the enterprise goodwill, the court will add equipment and supplies in the amount of $25,000, Accounts Receivable of $41,000 and subtract liabilities of $122,000. The court sets the fair market valuation of the practice at $304,000 which will be subject to equitable distribution. It is the court’s intention to divide this asset equally as the court will with the other personal assets and liabilities as set forth in the spreadsheet with the following changes.
“First, the court notes that it found credible husband’s testimony that he completed the April 1, 2010 purchases of the Surgical Center stock shares using money from inheritance from his mother’s estate. The court does not find that [270]*270these funds were so co-mingled that they became marital assets or that wife is able to overcome [the] presumption that they are separate assets for the purpose of distribution. Thus only the 3,000 shares will be subject to equitable distribution. The current value of those shares is $70,140. «‡‡‡⅜*
“Based upon primarily on the disparity of incomes the court awards wife her reasonable attorney fees.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
380 P.3d 1073, 280 Or. App. 266, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 1003, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-marriage-of-code-orctapp-2016.