Matter of Marriage of Proctor

229 P.3d 635, 234 Or. App. 722, 2010 Ore. App. LEXIS 389
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedApril 14, 2010
Docket150223725; A136448
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 229 P.3d 635 (Matter of Marriage of Proctor) 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
Matter of Marriage of Proctor, 229 P.3d 635, 234 Or. App. 722, 2010 Ore. App. LEXIS 389 (Or. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

*724 SERCOMBE, J.

Wife appeals three supplemental judgments that the circuit court entered on remand from this court. Proctor and Proctor, 203 Or App 499, 125 P3d 801 (2005), modified on recons, 204 Or App 250, 129 P3d 186, rev den, 340 Or 672 (2006) (Proctor I). One of the supplemental judgments modified the division of the parties’ marital property. The other two supplemental judgments denied wife’s requests for attorney fees. Wife contends that the court erred in (1) failing to divide the marital assets consistently with Oregon law, (2) not allowing prejudgment interest on the money judgment, and (3) failing to award her attorney fees in both the original and remand proceedings. We review the denials of attorney fees and costs for abuse of discretion, Wells v. Santos, 211 Or App 413, 155 P3d 887, rev den, 343 Or 160 (2007) , and wife’s remaining assignments of error de novo, ORS 19.415(3). 1 We modify the supplemental judgment dividing the marital assets, vacate and remand the supplemental judgments denying attorney fees, and otherwise affirm.

The facts are explained in Proctor P.

“The parties were married in California in 1991. They came into the marriage with separate assets, and had a premarital agreement describing the treatment of those assets. The premarital agreement included a ‘choice-of-laws’ provision: ‘This agreement is made and entered into between the parties in California and shall be interpreted as construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California.’
“The trial court entered a dissolution judgment in November 2003. It divided the marital property as proposed by husband. The trial court explained that the award of property to husband included ‘reimbursement’ to husband for his contributions to the acquisition of marital assets, in the amount of $453,845.63. Reimbursements are a component of property divisions under California dissolution law. * * *
«* * * * *
*725 “The trial court apparently concluded that the parties’ premarital agreement, specifically, the choice-of-laws provision, required that the parties’ marital assets be divided pursuant to California law.”

203 Or App at 502-03.

The premarital agreement attached schedules listing the “separate” property of each party, pledging that “such property shall remain [the] separate property” of that party. Each party further agreed that “any community efforts of either party contributed to or directed toward separate property assets of either spouse shall not create a community interest in the separate property assets” and that “sales of any separate property of either spouse and the proceeds of any such sales remain entirely separate property even though uncompensated community efforts have been contributed to the separate property.” Husband’s listed property included his residence at Del Mar, California, and his business interests in Polar Pacific, Inc. Wife’s separate property included a residence and an airplane.

In the original dissolution judgment, the court awarded four pieces of real property to husband, free and clear of any interest in wife, except for $77,572.87 to be paid to wife for her interest in one of the properties. The trial court also awarded to husband the personal property and banking accounts in his possession or held in his name and to wife her personal property. However, the court “did not specifically identify which properties it considered to be marital assets, which properties it awarded to husband as his own separate assets and which properties it considered to be part of the reimbursement to husband for his contribution to the acquisition of marital assets.” Id. at 505. The only explanation the trial court gave was its adoption of “facts and analysis set forth in husband’s trial memorandum” and husband’s suggested division of property. Id.

Wife appealed from that judgment, and we concluded that the trial court had improperly applied California substantive law such as “reimbursements,” as opposed to Oregon substantive law, to the parties’ property division. Id. at 503-04. We explained that the “choice-of-laws provision in the parties’ premarital agreement is just that: an agreement *726 that California law will govern the construction of the agreement.” Id. at 504 (emphasis in original). We instructed that, “[o]n remand, the trial court should reconsider the property division under Oregon law * * *.” Id. at 511.

In the first appeal, wife also argued that the trial court had erred in awarding husband, as his own separate property, particular assets that she asserted were marital assets: (1) $100,000 received by husband as repayment of a “loan” made to a third party; (2) a Starduster bi-plane; (3) a 1994 Cadillac automobile; (4) the proceeds of the sale of a 2000 Ford truck; and (5) a contract receivable interest on property at Kimmel Lane. Id. at 504-05. We observed that “[i]t is undisputed that the assets were acquired during the marriage. Accordingly, there is a presumption that the parties contributed equally to their acquisition.” Id. at 505. Because husband had “not overcome the presumption of equal contribution with respect to each of the assets,” we directed that, “on remand, the trial court should treat the five assets as assets to which the parties contributed equally to their acquisition.” Id. at 506.

On remand, wife argued that the trial court must “refashion” the property division under Oregon law, relying on a presumption of equal contribution to the acquisition of marital property under ORS 107.105(l)(f). It was her position that husband had not rebutted the presumption of equal contribution to additional marital assets beyond those divided in Proctor I, and, therefore, those marital assets should be divided equally. Husband responded that the trial court was required only to make an equitable distribution of the five specific assets identified in Proctor I. He requested that the court apply Kunze and Kunze, 337 Or 122, 92 P3d 100 (2004), to determine the proper distribution of the remaining marital property at issue. Specifically, husband contended that wife’s proposed property division on remand failed to take into consideration that the premarital agreement specified that significant assets were husband’s separate property.

The trial court determined that the remaining assets at issue were marital property. Thus, it considered “whether equal division of [those assets] would be a just and proper division.” Although the trial court did not reopen the record *727

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Related

In Re the Marriage of Loomis
268 P.3d 700 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2011)
In the Matter of Marriage of Proctor
234 P.3d 133 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
229 P.3d 635, 234 Or. App. 722, 2010 Ore. App. LEXIS 389, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matter-of-marriage-of-proctor-orctapp-2010.