In re the Marriage of Gilbert-Walters

33 P.3d 709, 177 Or. App. 133, 2001 Ore. App. LEXIS 1517
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedOctober 3, 2001
Docket15-97-09723; A105636
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 33 P.3d 709 (In re the Marriage of Gilbert-Walters) 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 Gilbert-Walters, 33 P.3d 709, 177 Or. App. 133, 2001 Ore. App. LEXIS 1517 (Or. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

KISTLER, J.

Husband appeals from a dissolution judgment. He assigns error to the trial court’s property division and also to its attorney fee award. We affirm the property division but reverse and remand the attorney fee award.

The parties were married in August 1995 and had cohabitated for approximately one year before they were married. At the time of dissolution, husband was 37 years old and wife was 46 years old. The parties had no children of their own, although wife’s two children from an earlier marriage lived with them. During the marriage, wife worked part time as a teacher and earned approximately $12,250 per year. Husband was self-employed as an electrical contractor. In 1995, husband earned $26,656. In 1996, however, husband earned only $7,000.1

The assets husband brought into the relationship included a house on Demming Road, a house on Janus Street, a life insurance policy, two boats, a camper, two trucks, and various household furnishings. According to wife, the total market value of husband’s assets, both at the time the parties began cohabitating and just before their marriage, was $234,900 and his liabilities totaled $135,637.49. Wife also brought substantial assets into the relationship, including a half interest in a mobile home on Blue View Drive, a Jeep, a motor home, a half interest in a boat, various investment and annuity accounts, a life insurance policy, a PERS account, and household furnishings. Wife estimates that the total market value of her assets at the time the parties began coha-bitating was $347,685.83 and that her liabilities totaled $18,000. During the period of cohabitation, wife sold some of her stock and used the proceeds to make a $42,652 down payment on 40 acres of land and a manufactured home that she purchased for a total of $193,000. Wife also acquired a horse trailer, cattle, and two horses during the period of cohabitation. At the time the parties were married, wife estimates that the total market value of her assets had increased to $557,030.26 and that her total liabilities had increased to $169,000.

[136]*136The parties partitioned the 40-acre parcel of land purchased by wife into two parcels, a five-acre parcel on which they put the mobile home and a 35-acre parcel on which they planned to build a log cabin to be used as their home. Before the parties were married, husband put approximately $5,700 into a joint account to finance the construction of the parties’ home and a barn on the property. After the parties married, husband contributed to the construction of the parties’ log cabin and living expenses: $26,000 he obtained by putting a second mortgage on his Janus Street property, $9,000 he borrowed from his brother, $20,000 he borrowed from his parents, $1,870 he borrowed from the cash value of his life insurance policy, and approximately $84,278 that he realized from the sale of his Demming Road property after paying off the mortgage on that property. In addition, husband contends that he contributed 30 hours per week of his own labor to building the parties’ home, which resulted in a substantial reduction in his own personal income in 1996.

For her part, wife asserts that she paid most of the parties’ living expenses from her income as a teacher and contributed money from her annuity and investment accounts. Wife also asserts that she, and her two children, also contributed their time to building the log cabin. In 1997, the parties refinanced wife’s loan on the 40 acres and the log cabin. Wife contributed $30,000 to assist in obtaining the new financing. Under the refinancing arrangement, wife’s original debt on the property, husband’s debt to his brother, and the second mortgage on husband’s Janus Street property were paid off. After refinancing, the parties still owed husband’s parents the $20,000 that husband had borrowed from them and also owed the bank $233,000 on the new loan.

The parties separated in August 1997, and wife and her children moved out of the log cabin. Husband continued to live in the log cabin. Wife, however, continued to make the mortgage payment on the cabin. In October 1997, wife obtained an order restraining both parties from disposing of real or personal property. In January 1998, wife obtained an order restraining husband from doing anything that would be detrimental to the parties’ real and personal property. Husband violated both restraining orders by selling about $100 worth of hay and by removing a telephone system and [137]*137part of a security system from the log cabin. In April 1998, the trial court entered an order granting wife exclusive possession of the log cabin. In September 1998, the trial court found husband in contempt for violating the October 1997 and January 1998 restraining orders.

In February 1999, the trial court entered a judgment dissolving the parties’ marriage and dividing their property. In dividing the parties’ property, the judge found that, even though the parties’ marriage was a short-term relationship, “it [wa]s not possible to return the parties to their premarital circumstances, given the commingling of assets and liabilities which ha[d] taken place.” The trial court also found that wife had overcome the presumption of equal contribution and stated that it had reflected their respective contributions in its property division.

The court awarded wife her separate property and, subject to all liens and encumbrances, the 35-acre parcel with the log cabin, the five-acre parcel with the manufactured home, all household goods, furnishings, appliances, linens, utensils, clothing, personal effects and belongings in her possession, all bank accounts in wife’s sole name, all insurance policies on her life, her half interest in the property on Blue View Drive, a 1994 Jeep, a 1994 Chevrolet pickup, a 1996 Logan utility trailer, two horses and a foal, and five investment accounts. The court awarded husband his separate property and, subject to all liens and encumbrances, all household goods, furnishings, appliances, linens, utensils, clothing, personal effects and belongings in his possession, all bank accounts in his sole name, all insurance policies on his life, his business, the Janus Street property, a 1998 Chevrolet pickup, a 1973 Ideal flatbed truck, a flatbed trailer, and various other items of property including hay proceeds, a shotgun, a tractor, a stereo system, and a security system. The court also awarded husband a $70,000 equalizing judgment to be paid by wife.2

On appeal, husband assigns error to the trial court’s property division. Husband neither assigns error to nor [138]*138argues that the trial court erred in its finding that wife overcame the presumption of equal contribution. Rather, he argues that the trial court’s property division is unfair. Husband states that, in addition to her premarital assets and a share of the household items, wife was awarded the following:

“Appreciation in Blue View house: $ 3,750
“Appreciation in Waddell and Reed: $ 37,742
“Appreciation in PERS account: $ 42,000
“Appreciation in Manulife annuity: $ 7,249
“New Waddell and Reed account: $ 3,039
“1994 Chevrolet pickup: $ 10,000
“1996 Logan utility trailer: $ 7,500
“Log cabin with the 35 acres: $123,000
“Manufactured home with the 5 acres: $159,000

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Bluebook (online)
33 P.3d 709, 177 Or. App. 133, 2001 Ore. App. LEXIS 1517, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-marriage-of-gilbert-walters-orctapp-2001.