In re the Marriage of McGoldrick

736 P.2d 622, 85 Or. App. 412
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMay 13, 1987
Docket84-6-230; CA A37502
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 736 P.2d 622 (In re the Marriage of McGoldrick) 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 McGoldrick, 736 P.2d 622, 85 Or. App. 412 (Or. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinions

RICHARDSON, P. J.

Wife appeals the property division and spousal support provisions of a dissolution judgment. She also contends that the court erred in denying her motion to set aside the judgment and grant her a new trial. We modify the judgment.

The parties’ 33-year marriage was dissolved in 1985 after a three-year separation. At the time of trial in 1985, husband was 55 and wife was 53. Husband has been a high school teacher for approximately 28 years and in 1985 grossed $32,568 in salary and approximately $50 per month in interest income. He testified that he intended to retire at the end of the 1985-86 school year, at which time he would be entitled to PERS benefits.

Wife’s primary role has been as a homemaker and the mother of the parties’ four children. The children are all grown. She has a college degree but has had only limited employment outside the home. In the late 1970’s she was a substitute teacher. After the parties permanently separated in 1982, she updated her teaching certificate but did not seek employment, because she was told that there was a surplus of substitute teachers. She has health problems relating to the blood circulation in her feet and legs.

Wife, in the 1970’s, inherited some property from her mother. By the time of trial, the inheritance had been converted to cash and was deposited in a savings account with a balance of $24,298. She earns approximately $200 per month interest on the account. After the separation, but before trial, wife put the savings account in trust for her four children. The trust is revocable and wife is able to use the income and corpus of the trust. She testified that she intended for the balance of the account to go to the children at her death.

In 1973, husband inherited from his father several large parcels of real property located in three counties in Eastern Oregon. The parcels are separately usable for timber, mineral exploration and farming. He had to pay a substantial inheritance tax at the time he acquired the land. He has worked on the property sporadically since he inherited it, and at the time of trial it was being rented. The net income from the properties after deducting expenses and depreciation was approximately $200 per month in 1985. The parcels have a [415]*415total value of $247,997. Husband testified that he intends to live on and to farm the property after he retires.

In 1981, husband consulted an attorney regarding an estate plan and, principally, a means of transferring the Eastern Oregon land to his children. He expressed concern to the attorney that, if he died with or without a will, wife might acquire and sell the property and the children would not inherit it. He also was concerned that a transfer by will or an intestate transfer would result in inheritance taxes comparable to the amount that he paid on his father’s death. Husband and the attorney both testified that there was no discussion regarding a marriage dissolution or regarding a means of preventing wife from acquiring any interest in the property upon dissolution of the marriage. The attorney advised husband to convey the property to the children and reserve a life estate.

The parties separated in the summer of 1982, and in August, 1983, the attorney, at husband’s request, prepared the documents transferring the Eastern Oregon property to the four children with reservation of a life estate in favor of husband. Husband did not tell wife or the children about the deeds. One year later he filed the petition for dissolution. When wife learned of the transfer, she told the children; they told her that they would not reconvey the property to husband.

At trial, wife argued that the transfer was fraudulent and should be set aside in order that the property could be considered as marital property in the property distribution. Alternatively, she asked that, if the transfer was not set aside, that the value of the property be credited to husband in the distribution and that she receive an off-setting judgment to equalize the accounting.

The trial court concluded that the property should be considered husband’s under the analysis in Jenks and Jenks, 294 Or 236, 656 P2d 286 (1982), and that the deed to the children was not fraudulent and should not be set aside. The court found:

“1. The property has been in the petitioner’s family for over a hundred years.
“2. Wife showed no past interest in the property.
“3. Wife was not an influencing factor to encourage the [416]*416inheritance, i.e., was not intended by the donor that wife share the ownership.
“4. Wife was not close friends with husband’s parents.
“5. The gift was to the husband alone.
“6. There was never any intent from the husband to recognize wife as an owner.
“7. The business of operating the farms was kept separate from the usual family business activities.
“8. The husband has irrevocably deeded the property to the children, reserving a life estate in himself.
“9. Other than as a conclusion from the wife, there is no evidence that the conveyance to the children was fraudulent. (If fraud has to be proved by clear and convincing evidence, wife’s claim must fall, for this reason alone because there is no evidence of fraud. Further, the children were not even aware of the transfer.)”

Wife argues that the circumstances surrounding the transfer of the property prove that it was done in order to deprive her of any interest in the property in the event of dissolution or death of husband. She contends that the deed was fraudulent and should be set aside. At oral argument in this court, wife conceded that the deed could not be set aside, because the grantees were not made parties to this proceeding. She contends, however, that the property should be treated as if it were still in the marital estate and that, although husband should be awarded all the remaining interest in the property, she should be given an offsetting money judgment, which she calculates to be approximately $74,000.

We conclude that the transfer was not designed solely to defeat wife’s claim to the property in the dissolution proceedings. The property had been in husband’s family for approximately 100 years, and both he and wife testified that it was always their intent that it pass to the children. Husband and the attorney who prepared the deeds testified that the discussion centered around a transfer of the property which would avoid inheritance taxes, and they both stated that there was no discussion regarding dissolution of the parties’ marriage or preventing wife from sharing in the property upon dissolution. Wife argues that the timing of the transfer — one year after they separated and one year before husband filed the petition for dissolution — and its secrecy demonstrate a [417]*417fraudulent intent. Husband had discussed the transfer with the attorney in 1981 before the parties separated. The deeds were prepared in 1983 without further discussions between husband and the attorney. The timing of the transfer in relation to the dissolution proceedings does not demonstrate a fraudulent motive. It is not unusual that husband would make the transfer without discussing the matter with wife or the children.

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Bluebook (online)
736 P.2d 622, 85 Or. App. 412, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-marriage-of-mcgoldrick-orctapp-1987.