In re the Marriage of Thompson

129 P.3d 189, 204 Or. App. 53, 2006 Ore. App. LEXIS 101
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedFebruary 1, 2006
Docket04P2038; A127151
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 129 P.3d 189 (In re the Marriage of Thompson) 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 Thompson, 129 P.3d 189, 204 Or. App. 53, 2006 Ore. App. LEXIS 101 (Or. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

EDMONDS, P. J.

In this dissolution of marriage proceeding under ORS 107.105, husband appeals, arguing that the trial court erred when it awarded the parties’ real property to wife. Husband contends that the property should be sold and that he should receive 50 percent of the proceeds of the sale. We affirm.

The parties were married in 1987 and have three children, who were ages 14, 7, and 4 at the time of trial. The parties separated in September 2003, and the trial court entered the judgment of dissolution of marriage in December 2004. The issue on appeal concerns the parties’ real property, which comprises ten acres and a 1,100 square foot manufactured home. There are also two barns on the acreage. The property was purchased during the marriage. Without explanation, the trial court awarded the real property to wife subject to its mortgage. The mortgage is payable in monthly installments of $1,041, which the court ordered wife to pay. At the time of trial, wife valued the property at $176,000, a valuation that was derived from the county property tax statement. In addition, wife testified without objection that she had been told that the property was worth $192,000. Husband opined that it was worth $239,000. The trial court made no findings as to the value of the property as part of its decision.

Wife testified at trial why she believed that she should be the sole recipient of the equity in the real property. She explained:

“And, you know, I need a home. I mean, I need a place to raise my children and a place to shelter them.
* * * *
“All three of the boys are very active and doing chores, and taking care of the animals and the farm. Our 14-year-old has livestock that he uses in 4-H that he keeps. A portion of my income is actually generated from farming. I grow — we have a greenhouse, and I grow vegetable starts. I raise bees for the honey; I have cows that I raise for beef; I [56]*56have about 50 chickens that I sell eggs. So, you know, probably — I only work part time. So I would say probably a quarter of my income is generated from actual farming.
* * * *
“I believe that our home is the only actual financial security that I can provide for my kids.”

A common thread in wife’s testimony was her contention that husband was financially irresponsible and that the equity in the property would eventually be lost due to federal tax liens and other obligations that husband had incurred if the property was not awarded to her. Wife also testified that she works between 20 and 25 hours per week as an assistant to a veterinarian and makes $10.50 per hour. In addition to her request that she be awarded the equity in the real property, wife also asked the court to award spousal support in the amount of $258 per month for five years. However, the trial court declined to award wife any spousal support.

Husband testified that he makes approximately $43,000 annually as a real estate agent. He informed the court that his potential tax liabilities would be remedied in the near future once tax returns were filed. As the trial court considered how to divide the equity in the real property, the following colloquy occurred between the court and husband:

“[HUSBAND]: I have an idea. I don’t want my family to have to leave the farm. That’s what I do understand.
“THE COURT: That’s good. And you two agree on that?
“ [HUSBAND]: Yes, sir. But I do — I do understand that it’s not right for me or fair for me to just have to get up and walk away and leave what I built, let alone leaving my children. Even though I do see my children quite a bit; but I was still taken from them, and that wasn’t fair.
“So if we can come to a middle ground on the value of what is owed to me, we can set up a time frame that can be paid to me.
“THE COURT: Well, first of all, that land is not further dividable?
“[HUSBAND]: Correct.
[57]*57“THE COURT: So that solves that problem.
“Both of you don’t want to sell it, so that gets rid of that problem. So the land, it remains — she stays on it, and the boys stay on it; and if she is going to take the house payment, so whatever the equity is, how is that going — how are you going to get your equity out of there? Wait five years and then she has to refinance?”

The court then engaged in a colloquy with wife, observing that she made $10.50 per hour working part-time. Wife explained to the court, “I really don’t feel obligated to pay [husband] anything for equity. I mean, when I agreed to stay home and have children and him provide for myself and the children, I didn’t anticipate coming to this point ever.” Wife continued:

“And, you know, again part — I work part time out of the home because the other part of my time I spend taking care of the farm. Mr. Thompson has not really — other than maybe constructing structures, he does not do any of the farming or taking care of the animals and has not since we’ve lived there. So when he says he has built the farm, I’m a little cautious as to what I understand there.
“You know, he has not provided consistently an income. He said that he’s paid the mortgage payments. Since he hasn’t lived there in September, he’s paid five of the nine mortgage payments, not all of them.
“I think that he should provide a home for us. I don’t believe that I should have to pay him any equity out of it. On my income it would be very unreasonable for me to have to make a payment to him, and I still have little kids at home and it would be unreasonable for me to have to go to work any more than that.”
Husband countered:
“Well, I’m willing to set a time frame, but I’m also willing — the money that I use for child support and the spousal support, use to make the mortgage payment and then I have the interest written off on that yearly. And then we can set a time frame on the amount and the amount of money that’s owed, and a balloon payment in a certain amount of time.”

[58]*58After hearing from the parties, the trial court made the following determinations: In addition to awarding the real property to wife subject to its mortgage, it also required wife to make the car payments. The trial court required husband to pay the remainder of the marital debts. Those debts included a federal tax obligation of $8,000 to $13,000 and a credit line issued by a bank to husband in the amount of $15,000.

In his brief on appeal, husband summarizes his position:

“Wife has failed to rebut husband’s contention that the court failed to establish that the court’s distribution of the real property and debts of the parties was ‘just and proper’ under the statutory criteria established by ORS 107.105(l)(f). Wife is leaving the marriage with the only substantial asset of the parties, the real property with its substantial equity, while husband leaves the marriage with approximately $26,000 of the parties’ debt.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
129 P.3d 189, 204 Or. App. 53, 2006 Ore. App. LEXIS 101, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-marriage-of-thompson-orctapp-2006.