Marriage of Baker v. Baker

733 N.W.2d 815, 2007 Minn. App. LEXIS 94, 2007 WL 1893201
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedJuly 3, 2007
DocketA06-1252
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 733 N.W.2d 815 (Marriage of Baker v. Baker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marriage of Baker v. Baker, 733 N.W.2d 815, 2007 Minn. App. LEXIS 94, 2007 WL 1893201 (Mich. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinions

OPINION

WRIGHT, Judge.

In this appeal from the district court’s judgment dissolving the parties’ marriage, appellant-wife challenges the district court’s division of the parties’ marital property, arguing that the district court ,(1) understated the portion of respondent-husband’s retirement accounts that is marital property; (2) understated the overall value of husband’s surgical practice by not including the value of the institutional goodwill of the practice; and (3) abused its discretion by holding that husband did not improperly dispose of marital assets. By notice of review, husband challenges the district court’s spousal-maintenance award to wife, arguing that it is based on erroneous and insufficient findings. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.

FACTS

In May 2003, appellant-wife Carol Baker filed a petition for dissolution of her 13-year marriage to respondent-husband Daniel Baker. After a trial before a referee, the district court entered a judgment dissolving the parties’ marriage, dividing their property, and awarding wife spousal maintenance.1 Thereafter, wife moved the district court to amend its findings of fact and conclusions of law. The district court denied the motion, and this appeal followed.

ISSUES

I. Did the district court err as a matter of law when it held that the value of the appreciation of husband’s premarital retirement funds is nonmarital property?

II. Did the district court erroneously conclude that the law precludes the inclusion of the value of the institutional goodwill accumulated in husband’s surgical practice during the parties’ marriage in the overall valuation of the practice?

III. Did the district court abuse its discretion when it held that husband did not improperly encumber or dispose of marital assets when he used them to pay his attorney fees, fund education accounts for his and wife’s grandchildren, pay for his daughter’s wedding, and purchase a one-half interest in a Porsche?

[819]*819IV. Did the district court abuse its discretion when it set husband’s spousal-maintenance obligation?

ANALYSIS

As an initial matter, we consider the scope of review in this case. Wife filed a motion for a new trial or amended findings of fact and conclusions of law. Because the motion did not identify specific grounds for a new trial, the district court concluded that, “No motion for a new trial is before th[is] Court.” The district court also denied the motion for amended findings of fact and conclusions of law. In the absence of a motion for a new trial, our scope of review includes substantive legal issues properly raised to and considered by the district court, whether the evidence supports the findings of fact, and whether those findings support the conclusions of law and the judgment. Alpha Real Estate Co. of Rochester v. Delta Dental Plan of Minn., 664 N.W.2d 303, 310 (Minn.2003) (stating that new-trial motion is not prerequisite to appellate review of substantive legal issues properly raised and considered in district court); Gruenhagen v. Larson, 310 Minn. 454, 458, 246 N.W.2d 565, 569 (1976) (stating that absent motion for new trial, appellate courts may review whether evidence supports findings of fact and whether findings support conclusions of law and judgment).

I.

Wife first argues that the district court erred as a matter of law when it held that the appreciation of husband’s premarital retirement funds is nonmarital property. Whether property is marital or non-marital is a question of law over which we exercise de novo review. Gottsacker v. Gottsacker, 664 N.W.2d 848, 852 (Minn.2003). But in doing so, we defer to the district court’s findings of fact. Id.

Marital property is “property, real or personal, including vested public or private pension plan benefits or rights, acquired by the parties, or either of them, to a dissolution ... proceeding at any time during the existence of the marriage.” Minn.Stat. § 518.003, subd. 3b (2006) (codified at Minn.Stat. § 518.54, subd. 5 (2004)). All property acquired by either spouse during the marriage is presumed to be marital property. Id. To overcome this presumption, a spouse must demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that the property is nonmarital. Crosby v. Crosby, 587 N.W.2d 292, 296 (Minn.App.1998), review denied (Minn. Feb. 18, 1999). Nonmarital property includes property acquired by either spouse before marriage and any increase in the value thereof, MinmStat. § 518.003, subd. 3b, provided such an increase is the result of passive appreciation, Gottsacker, 664 N.W.2d at 853 (citing Nardini v. Nardini, 414 N.W.2d 184, 193 (Minn.1987)); Swick v. Swick, 467 N.W.2d 328, 331 (Minn.App.1991), review denied (Minn. May 16, 1991). Appreciation is passive when it is “ ‘attributable to inflation or to market forces or conditions.’ ” Gottsacker, 664 N.W.2d at 853 (quoting Nardini, 414 N.W.2d at 192). In other words, appreciation occurring when “no investment decisions are made, and neither [spouse] may withdraw the funds or otherwise control the investments,” is passive. Prahl v. Prahl, 627 N.W.2d 698, 706 (Minn.App.2001). Conversely, appreciation that is attributable to the exertion of efforts by one or both spouses during the marriage generally is deemed active and, thus, marital property. Gottsacker, 664 N.W.2d at 853 (quoting Nardini, 414 N.W.2d at 192); White v. White, 521 N.W.2d 874, 878 (Minn.App.1994). Such efforts may include the application or investment of marital funds, marital labor, or entrepreneurial decision-mak[820]*820ing that is marital in nature. White, 521 N.W.2d at 878.

When the parties married, husband had $957,473 in a retirement plan entitled Specialists in General Surgery Pension and Profit Sharing Plan (“SIGS accounts”). During the marriage, additional contributions and investment returns caused the value of the SIGS accounts to reach $3,088,072 on the date of valuation for the dissolution proceedings. During trial, husband’s expert, Thomas Harjes, testified as to the proper allocation of that amount between marital and nonmarital property. To derive this allocation, Harjes classified the premarital amount of $957,473 as non-marital property and all contributions made during the marriage as marital property. For each year of marriage, Harjes determined the percentage of funds in the SIGS accounts that was marital property and the percentage that was nonmarital property. He then used those percentages to divide the investment returns between marital and nonmarital property. Based on these calculations, Harjes concluded that $639,577 of $3,088,072 was marital property subject to equitable division. The district court adopted Harjes’s conclusions and allocated the final value of the SIGS accounts between marital and non-marital property accordingly.

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733 N.W.2d 815 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2007)

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733 N.W.2d 815, 2007 Minn. App. LEXIS 94, 2007 WL 1893201, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marriage-of-baker-v-baker-minnctapp-2007.