Marriage of Goudreau

2024 MT 6N, 542 P.3d 8
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 16, 2024
DocketDA 22-0545
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2024 MT 6N (Marriage of Goudreau) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marriage of Goudreau, 2024 MT 6N, 542 P.3d 8 (Mo. 2024).

Opinion

01/16/2024

DA 22-0545 Case Number: DA 22-0545

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA 2024 MT 6N

IN RE THE MARRIAGE OF:

LINDSAY B. GOUDREAU,

Petitioner, Appellee, and Cross-Appellant,

and

JEFFREY A. GOUDREAU,

Respondent, Appellant, and Cross-Appellee.

APPEAL FROM: District Court of the Eleventh Judicial District, In and For the County of Flathead, Cause No. DR-15-2020-064 Honorable Robert B. Allison, Presiding Judge

COUNSEL OF RECORD:

For Appellant:

Penni L. Chisholm, Dean Chisholm, Chisholm & Chisholm, P.C., Columbia Falls, Montana

For Appellee:

David F. Stufft, Attorney at Law, Kalispell, Montana

Submitted on Briefs: May 24, 2023

Decided: January 16, 2024

Filed:

ir,-6m---if __________________________________________ Clerk Justice James Jeremiah Shea delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶1 Pursuant to Section I, Paragraph 3(c), Montana Supreme Court Internal Operating

Rules, this case is decided by memorandum opinion, shall not be cited and does not serve

as precedent. Its case title, cause number, and disposition shall be included in this Court’s

quarterly list of noncitable cases published in the Pacific Reporter and Montana Reports.

¶2 Jeffrey A. Goudreau (“Jeff”) appeals from the Eleventh Judicial District Court’s

Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Decree of Dissolution (“Decree”) and Final

Parenting Plan. Lindsay B. Goudreau (“Lindsay”) cross-appeals.

¶3 Jeff and Lindsay married in October of 2013. They have two children together.

Lindsay has a child from a previous marriage. They have lived separately since January 10,

2020. On January 21, 2020, Lindsay filed a petition for dissolution. The District Court

held a two-day bench trial, after which it issued the June 7, 2022 Decree and Final Parenting

Plan.

¶4 Prior to their marriage, Jeff owned property on Eckleberry Drive in Columbia Falls.

In December of 2014, Jeff sold the Eckleberry Drive property and received net proceeds

of $199,291. Lindsay helped to avoid a real estate commission by assisting in the

marketing of the Eckleberry Drive property. Two weeks later, the parties jointly purchased

a parcel of land on Oakmont Lane for $118,500. Jeff and Lindsay bought the Oakmont

Lane property and built their home on it, financed from the proceeds from the sale of the

Eckleberry Drive property, $49,000 from Jeff’s savings, and a March 2016 loan of $73,190

in Jeff’s name. Jeff and Lindsay also rented out a site on the property for RV and tent

2 camping, with plans to use the property for additional income and Lindsay’s budding

photography business.

¶5 Less than two months after separating, Lindsay purchased a $350,000 home on

Second Avenue West in Columbia Falls using a $220,000 loan and most of a $169,000

payment from her grandmother. The purchase and bank loan were in Lindsay’s name

alone.

¶6 The parties reached an interim financial agreement (“Interim Agreement”) approved

by the District Court on May 5, 2020. Pursuant to the Interim Agreement, Jeff paid Lindsay

a single installment of $30,000 and $900 per month for temporary family support. The

Interim Agreement also included an interim parenting plan which provided that the parties

would share parenting time with their two children, with Lindsay receiving eight nights

and Jeff receiving six nights during every two-week period. Jeff received additional time

when Lindsay traveled to exchange her oldest child with his father and paternal

grandparents.

¶7 After trial, the District Court adopted the interim parenting plan without any

changes. The Decree allowed Jeff to choose between retaining the Oakmont Lane property

or selling the property. The District Court valued the Oakmont Lane property at

$1,075,000 and awarded Lindsay half of the net equity of the property after accounting for

Jeff’s premarital contributions and two outstanding encumbrances, which Jeff was to

assume in full if he elected to retain the Oakmont Lane property. The Decree calculated

this amount to be $406,900 should Jeff choose to retain the property. Both parties filed

3 post-judgment motions seeking amendments to, and clarifications of, the Decree. The

motions were deemed denied after the District Court did not rule on either within 60 days.

¶8 A district court’s ruling on a discovery matter is reviewed to determine whether the

district court abused its discretion. In re S.C., 2005 MT 241, ¶ 16, 328 Mont. 476, 121

P.3d 552 (citation omitted). “A district court’s valuation of a marital estate is a

discretionary ruling that we review for an abuse of discretion.” In re Marriage of Hutchins,

2018 MT 275, ¶ 8, 393 Mont. 283, 430 P.3d 502 (citation omitted). “A district court’s

apportionment of the marital estate will stand unless there was a clear abuse of discretion

as manifested by a substantially inequitable division of the marital assets resulting in

substantial injustice.” Marriage of Hutchins, ¶ 7 (citation omitted). “We review a district

court’s division of marital property to determine whether the court’s findings of fact are

clearly erroneous and whether its conclusions of law are correct.” Marriage of Hutchins,

¶ 7 (citation omitted). A district court’s award of child support will not be overturned

absent an abuse of discretion. In re Marriage of Anderson, 2014 MT 111, ¶ 11, 374 Mont.

526, 323 P.3d 895. “A district court abuses its discretion if it acts arbitrarily without

conscientious judgment or exceeds the bounds of reason, resulting in substantial injustice.”

In re Marriage of Frank, 2022 MT 179, ¶ 32, 410 Mont. 73, 517 P.3d 188 (citation

omitted).

¶9 A district court’s findings of fact are reviewed for clear error. Marriage of Frank,

¶ 32 (citation omitted). “A finding of fact is clearly erroneous if it is not supported by

substantial evidence, if the court misapprehended the effect of the evidence or our review

4 of the record convinces us that the district court made a mistake.” Marriage of Frank,¶ 32

(citation omitted). “If the findings are not clearly erroneous, the court’s division of

property will be affirmed absent an abuse of discretion.” Marriage of Frank, ¶ 32 (citing

In re Marriage of Funk, 2012 MT 14, ¶ 6, 363 Mont. 352, 270 P.3d 39).

¶10 We address the following issues: (1) whether the District Court abused its discretion

on several discovery rulings and by declining to sanction Lindsay incident to Jeff’s motion

to compel; (2) whether the District Court’s findings regarding the valuation of the marital

estate were clearly erroneous; (3) whether the District Court abused its discretion regarding

the valuation and division of the marital estate; (4) whether the District Court abused its

discretion in adopting the Final Parenting Plan; (5) whether the District abused its

discretion in its award of child support; and (6) whether the District Court abused its

discretion in denying the parties’ post-judgment motions for clarification of and

amendments to the Decree.1 We affirm in part and remand for correction of clerical errors

in the Decree.

Discovery Rulings

¶11 Jeff argues that Lindsay’s tax returns and profit-loss reports, provided in discovery,

were not sufficient for the District Court to determine her income for purposes of its child

support calculation and therefore the District Court’s denial of Jeff’s motion to compel

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Marriage of Goudreau
Montana Supreme Court, 2024

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