Marriage of Griffith v. Griffith

415 N.W.2d 763, 1987 Minn. App. LEXIS 5062
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedDecember 1, 1987
DocketC4-87-235
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 415 N.W.2d 763 (Marriage of Griffith v. Griffith) 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 Griffith v. Griffith, 415 N.W.2d 763, 1987 Minn. App. LEXIS 5062 (Mich. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinions

OPINION

STONE, Judge.

Charles Griffith appeals from a judgment of the trial court dissolving the parties’ marriage and dividing their property. Charles claims the trial court erred in its division of property and in awarding $332 of attorney fees to respondent Agnes Griffith. We affirm the award of attorney fees, but reverse and remand for proper distribution of the parties’ property.

FACTS

Charles and Agnes Griffith were married in 1974 and had two children during their marriage, now ages 12 and 9. The parties resided in Alaska until 1983 when they moved to Minnesota. Charles commenced dissolution proceedings in 1986.

Prior to the marriage, Charles owned several parcels of real property located in Fairbanks, Alaska. A number of transactions involving the property took place pri- or to and during the marriage. Charles usually deposited proceeds from any sale of these properties in the parties’ joint checking or savings accounts.

At the time of trial the parties owned three parcels of real property: the parties’ homestead, valued at $115,135; an adjacent vacant lot, valued at $19,560; and a commercial lot, valued at $38,300. Charles claimed each of these items of real property was either a non-marital asset of his or an asset traceable to a non-marital asset of his. He produced evidence to establish that the proceeds of the sale of his non-marital assets were used to purchase or develop the real property.

The trial court found Charles failed to meet his burden of proving that some portion of the parties’ real estate was his non-marital property. The court stated that Charles “failed to demonstrate his intent to maintain the property as his sepa[765]*765rate property by commingling the proceeds with joint marital property, by deeding the real estate to [Agnes] and himself jointly, and by failing to maintain adequate records to substantiate his claim.” The trial court treated all of the real property as marital property and divided it between the parties.

The trial court also found that Charles was the primary caretaker of the parties’ minor children and awarded custody of the children to Charles.

After trial, Charles brought a motion requesting the trial court to receive additional evidence. The trial court denied the motion and awarded $332 to Agnes for her attorney fees in defending the motion. Charles appeals from the trial court’s judgment, claiming his non-marital assets were not taken into account and that the award of attorney fees was an abuse of discretion.

ISSUES

1. Did the trial court abuse its discretion in its division of the parties’ property?

2. Did the trial court abuse its discretion in awarding attorney fees to respondent?

ANALYSIS

I.

Charles did not make a motion for a new trial. When there has been no motion for a new trial, the scope of review is limited to determining whether the evidence sustains the findings of fact and whether such findings sustain the conclusions of law and judgment. Gruenhagen v. Larson, 310 Minn. 454, 458, 246 N.W.2d 565, 569 (1976).

In dividing property in a dissolution, there is a presumption that property acquired by either spouse subsequent to marriage is marital property. Minn.Stat. § 518.54, subd. 5 (1986). This presumption may be overcome by showing that all or part of an asset was acquired through investment of non-marital property. Id. Non-marital property or the non-marital portions of marital property are excluded from the court’s division of marital property. Minn.Stat. § 518.58 (1984); see Nardini v. Nardini, 414 N.W.2d 184 (Minn.1987).

Charles claims the trial court erred by not awarding him his non-marital interests in the three parcels of real property owned by the parties. Prior to the marriage, Charles owned several parcels of real property located in Fairbanks, Alaska. One parcel, located on Geist Road, contained the childhood home of Charles and his brother. The two brothers purchased the property from their parents in 1973. This lot was split into two parcels; one parcel was sold in 1975, the other was sold in 1976. The brothers split the proceeds from these sales equally; Charles deposited his share of the proceeds, $57,500, into the parties’ joint checking account.

Prior to the marriage, Charles owned an unimproved lot located on Chena Ridge in Alaska. In 1976, after the parties’ marriage, Charles placed the Chena Ridge property in the names of both parties. This property was sold in 1982 for $80,000, and the proceeds of the sale were placed in the parties’ joint savings account. Shortly after the sale of the Chena Ridge property, the parties purchased some commercial property in Fairbanks for $35,000, using the money from the sale of the Chena Ridge property. The parties made improvements on the commercial lot at a cost of $16,000, again using the proceeds from' the sale of the Chena Ridge property.

In 1973, again prior to his marriage, Charles purchased additional land with his brother; lots 3 and 4 in McKinley Acres. Shortly after the marriage, Charles and his brother split the McKinley Acres property, Charles taking lot 3 and his brother taking lot 4. Two years later the parties purchased lot 4 from Charles’ brother, and Charles quitclaimed his interest in lot 3 to himself and Agnes as joint tenants. Charles and Agnes then built their homestead on lot 3. The improvements for this home were funded out of the parties’ joint checking account, which contained the proceeds from the sale of the Geist Road property.

Charles produced evidence to establish that the Geist Road property and [766]*766the Chena Ridge property were his prior to marriage and that the proceeds from the sale of these two properties were $57,500 and $80,000, respectively. Although Charles put proceeds from the sale of his property in the parties’ joint checking accounts “[sjimply routing the funds through a joint account ‘does not transform non-marital property into marital property.’ ” Nash v. Nash, 388 N.W.2d 777, 781 (Minn.Ct.App.1986) rev. denied, August 20, 1986; quoting Montgomery v. Montgomery, 358 N.W.2d 169, 172 (Minn.Ct.App.1984). It is also true that the property was in the name of both Agnes and Charles. Yet, “merely transferring title from individual ownership to joint tenancy does not transform non-marital property into marital property.” Montgomery, 358 N.W.2d at 172.

This court’s 1984 opinion of Kottke v. Kottke, 353 N.W.2d 633 (Minn.Ct.App.1984) rejected the claim that non-marital assets placed in a joint checking account were transmuted into marital assets. In Kottke, the respondent had put a $27,000 inheritance check, which was her non-marital property, into the parties’ joint cheeking account. The parties then paid off a $20,-800 debt owed to respondent’s uncle. The $20,800 had been used to purchase a lot and build a home.

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Related

Marriage of Griffith v. Griffith
415 N.W.2d 763 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1987)

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Bluebook (online)
415 N.W.2d 763, 1987 Minn. App. LEXIS 5062, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marriage-of-griffith-v-griffith-minnctapp-1987.