In the Matter of the Marriage of: Thao Thi Thu Nguyen & An Ngoc Nguyen

CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedOctober 19, 2021
Docket37264-2
StatusUnpublished

This text of In the Matter of the Marriage of: Thao Thi Thu Nguyen & An Ngoc Nguyen (In the Matter of the Marriage of: Thao Thi Thu Nguyen & An Ngoc Nguyen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In the Matter of the Marriage of: Thao Thi Thu Nguyen & An Ngoc Nguyen, (Wash. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

FILED

OCTOBER 19, 2021

In the Office of the Clerk of Court WA State Court of Appeals, Division III

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

DIVISION THREE In the Matter of the Marriage of ) No. 37264-2-III

) THAO THI THU NGUYEN, ) ) Respondent, )

) UNPUBLISHED OPINION and ) ) AN NGOC NGUYEN, ) ) Appellant. )

LAWRENCE-BERREY, J. — An Ngoc Nguyen appeals after the trial court partially vacated the parties’ decree of dissolution and, one year later, entered an amended property award. We affirm in part, but remand for the trial court to enter adequate findings of fact and conclusions of law to support its attorney fee award in favor of Thao Thi Thu Nguyen.

FACTS An Ngoc Nguyen and Thao Nguyen were married in 2001. During their marriage,

Ms. Nguyen owned a nail salon, and Mr. Nguyen initially worked at a lumber mill. After No. 37264-2-II

Marr. of Nguyen

being laid off from the lumber mill, he worked as the business manager for his wife’s nail salon. The couple had two children.

During the marriage, the couple purchased three properties together: a vacant lot that was going to be used for the nail salon, a single family house in Tacoma, and another single family house in Lacey. At the time of the dissolution, there was no mortgage on the vacant lot or the Tacoma property. The Lacey property had an outstanding mortgage of $180,000.

In early 2014, the Nguyens agreed to an amicable divorce. They sold their vacant lot and agreed on how to divide the proceeds. In March 2014, Mr. Nguyen recorded a quitclaim deed in Thurston County, purportedly transferring Ms. Nguyen’s interests in the Tacoma and the Lacey properties to him. We attach the deed as an appendix to this opinion.

In April 2017, the parties signed an agreed petition for dissolution of marriage and filed it in Lincoln County. With respect to the division of real property, the agreed petition stated: “All community [real] property, if any, has been divided without contest.” Clerk’s Papers (CP) at 11.

Three months later, in July 2014, the parties signed agreed findings of fact and

conclusions of law, the decree of dissolution, and sent those pleadings to the Lincoln No. 37264-2-II

County Superior Court where they were subsequently signed by a judge and entered. The pleadings again stated: “All community [real] property, if any, has been divided without contest.” CP at 24, 35.

In March 2018, Ms. Nguyen filed a complaint, seeking to partially vacate the divorce decree pursuant to CR 60(c).! Her complaint was filed in the 2014 cause and the parties treated it as a motion rather than a separate proceeding.

The motion, based on CR 60(c) and (e), was supported by a declaration signed by Ms. Nguyen. She explained that in 2014, she and her former husband agreed that he would have the Tacoma property and she would initially keep her interest in the Lacey property. She explained that when Mr. Nguyen sold the Tacoma property, he would buy out her equity in the Lacey property and she would quitclaim that property to him. But three years later, when he sold the Tacoma property, he offered her only $50,000, despite the equity now being around $150,000. According to Ms. Nguyen, Mr. Nguyen tried to buy her out for less than agreed by claiming she had quitclaimed her interest in the Lacey

property to him in the March 2014 deed.

' CR 60(c) provides that CR 60 does not limit the power of a court to entertain an independent action to relieve a party from a judgment, order, or proceeding.

3 No. 37264-2-III Marr. of Nguyen

Mr. Nguyen responded that real estate prices had greatly appreciated in the past three years, and his former wife was attempting to obtain the increased equity in the property despite his payment of the mortgage, taxes, and other property expenses during that time. He argued that Ms. Nguyen’s motion, filed almost three years after the decree, was untimely. He also argued that her assertions that she did not intend to convey her interest in the Lacey property to him violated the statute of frauds.

Ms. Nguyen then filed an amended motion, clarifying that she was now relying upon CR 60(b)(4), (5), and (11). She further explained the circumstances behind her signing the deed. According to her, the version of the deed she signed had only the first two pages without any legal descriptions. And although the top of the first page reflected two parcel numbers, the document said that it transferred only the Tacoma property.

In November 2018, the trial court partially vacated the divorce decree. In its written order, the court explained: “The . . . Lacey [property] was not properly described in the Quit Claim Deed .. . and not referenced in the Decree of Dissolution . . . therefore the Decree is hereby partially vacated as to such real property to be address[ed] at a trial to be subsequently determined.” CP at 135.

The trial occurred one year later. The trial court heard testimony and entered

findings of fact and conclusions of law. The court awarded the Lacey property to Ms. No. 37264-2-II Marr. of Nguyen Nguyen and valued the equity of that property at $100,000. It found the net property award to Ms. Nguyen was $151,500 and the net property award to Mr. Nguyen was $280,000. In addition, the trial court awarded Ms. Nguyen $12,000 in attorney fees. There are no findings of fact or conclusions of law supporting the award of attorney fees.

Mr. Nguyen timely appealed.

ANALYSIS

PARTITION ARGUMENT RAISED FOR FIRST TIME ON APPEAL

Mr. Nguyen first contends the trial court erred by granting the motion to partially vacate the decree. He claims the trial court concluded that the Lacey property was undistributed, that divorced persons own undistributed property as tenants in common, and the correct way of dividing such property is an action for partition in the county where the property is located. He did not raise this partition argument below.

In general, we decline to consider an argument raised for the first time on appeal. RAP 2.5(a). The purposes of this rule are to encourage parties to raise issues below so the trial court has an opportunity to correct any error before it becomes an issue on appeal and to promote the important policies of economy and finality. Wilcox v. Basehore, 187 Wn.2d 772, 788, 389 P.3d 531 (2017). For these purposes, we decline to consider Mr.

Neguyen’s argument. No. 37264-2-III Marr. of Nguyen

TIMELINESS OF MOTION

Mr. Nguyen next contends the trial court erred by granting the motion to partially vacate the decree because it was not brought within a reasonable time.

“A motion to vacate is addressed to the sound discretion of the trial court.” Jones v. City of Seattle, 179 Wn.2d 322, 360, 314 P.3d 380 (2013). Motions to vacate under CR 60(b)(4), (5), and (11) must be made within a reasonable time. CR 60(b).

Here, Ms. Nguyen brought her motion to vacate soon after learning that her former husband would not buy out her equity in the Lacy property as orally promised. The fact that Mr. Nguyen offered her $50,000 arguably shows he had a collateral agreement yet to fulfill. Further, it is uncontested that Ms. Nguyen did not know the March 2014 deed purported to convey her interest in the Lacey property. In fact, the only language in the deed that explicitly transferred property said the property being transferred was the Tacoma property. The conveyance language makes no mention of the Lacey property.

Mr. Nguyen argues he was greatly prejudiced by the trial court’s decision to partially vacate the decree years after it was entered. He complains that he paid the

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