Selcuk Karamanoglu v. Catherine (Karamanoglu) Gourlaouen

2016 ME 86, 140 A.3d 1249, 2016 Me. LEXIS 98
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedJune 7, 2016
DocketDocket Cum-15-459
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 2016 ME 86 (Selcuk Karamanoglu v. Catherine (Karamanoglu) Gourlaouen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Judicial Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Selcuk Karamanoglu v. Catherine (Karamanoglu) Gourlaouen, 2016 ME 86, 140 A.3d 1249, 2016 Me. LEXIS 98 (Me. 2016).

Opinion

HJELM, J.

[¶ 1] Catherine Gourlaouen appeals, and Selcuk Karamanoglu cross-appeals, from a divorce judgment entered in the District Court (Portland, Eggert, J.) after it accepted and adopted the reports of a referee. Gourlaouen challenges aspects of the judgment relating to parental rights and responsibilities, and to the détermination of the parties’ interests in properties located in Yarmouth and France. In his cross-appeal, Karamanoglu alleges that he was not given proper credit for contributions he made toward the purchase of the France property. We affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand for further proceedings.

I, BACKGROUND

[¶ 2] After Karamanoglu filed a complaint for divorce in February 2014 and with the agreement of the parties, the court (Cadwallader; M.) appointed a referee to address all contested issues. See 19-A M.R.S. § 252(1)(A) (2015); M.R. Civ. P; 53, 119. The referee held bifurcated hearings on the parenting and financial issues, and then issued separate reports containing his findings of fact apd recommended disposition of the contested issues. The reports included the following facts, which bear on the issues on appeal, are based on *1252 competent evidence in the record, and were adopted by the court (Eggert, J.) in its divorce judgment. -

[¶ 3] The parties were married in Brest, France, in 2006. They have one minor child, who was bom in 2008.

[¶ 4] In January 2014, Gourlaouen filed a complaint for protection from abuse against Karamanoglu. After a contested hearing, the District Court (Portland, Mos-kowitz, J.) issued a protection order based on findings that Karamanoglu had abused Gourlaouen and the child. Under the terms of the protection order, Karamano-glu was limited to supervised contact with the child. The child’s therapist and the guardian ad litem, who was appointed during the divorce proceeding to represent the child’s best interest, later agreed that it was in the child’s best interest to have unsupervised visitation with Karamanoglu. Karamanoglu became engaged in counseling to learn to maintain a “strong and healthy relationship” with his son, and, as the referee found, was “strongly motivated to have a good and loving relationship with” him. Based on evidence that included the opinions of the child’s therapist and the guardian ad litem, the referee found that Karamanoglu does not pose a risk of harm to the child and recommended shared parental rights and responsibilities, including shared primary residence and care.

[¶5] The referee recommended that the parties be required “to participate in co-parenting counseling with a provider in private practice,” who would engage “with the parents individually and, if she or he thinks appropriate, together.” The -referee- also recommended a requirement that the child continue counseling with a therapist but “shall not participate in mental health counseling with multiple providers simultaneously without the express[ ] knowledge and consent of [the child’s therapist] and the co-parenting provider.” Additionally, the referee recommended a provision in the judgment requiring the parties to mediate any dispute regarding parenting issues, before they could seek judicial recourse.

[¶ 6] In a separate report, the referee addressed property issues. The parties jointly own properties in Primelin, France; Freeport; and Yarmouth. Two days before the parties married, they entered into a standard French marriage contract, which the parties agree is valid and enforceable, and provides that the division of property is governed by French law. The contract includes a “separation-of-assets regime,” which is commonly used in France. Under the regime, each spouse’s property rights are determined by his or her respective contributions to the acquisition of the property rather than by title. Based on the contract and French law, the referee determined that there were several principles that were relevant to contested property division issues: .that a spouse’s initial payment to acquire real property is treated as a capital contribution and is recoverable by the payor spouse, even if the asset decreases in value; that loan payments made over the course of time, in contrast, are déemed to be “contribution^] to ordinary marital expenses,” and the equity resulting from those payments is presumptively divided equally between the spouses; and that any appreciation in the value of-real property, which is called the profit subsistant, is allocated between the spouses in proportion to their financial interests as determined by their respective capital contributions and contributions to ordinary marital expenses.

[¶ 7] Karamanoglu and Gourlaouen supplemented the standard marriage contract with a clause stating that “the parties agree specifically that in the case of divorce, [Gourlaouen] will have to pay her *1253 husband a sum equivalent to half of the value of the buildings belonging to her at the time of divorce and acquired during the marriage.” Because the only property that could be covered by this clause is the property that is located in Primelin, which was acquired in 'Gourlaouen’s name six days after the marriage, the clause has been described in this proceeding as “the Primelin clause.” Despite including it in the contract, both parties ássérted to the referee that the Primelin clause was unenforceable because, as was explained by each party’s expert witness on French matrimonial law, its meaning is unclear. Karamanoglu paid $815,144 for Gourlaouen to acquire the Primelin property in her name alone. Gourlaouen did not contribute toward its purchase. The referee found' that at the time of the hearing, its value was $500,000'. The referee recommended that the Primelin property be set aside to Gourlaouen but that in the overall property division Karamanoglu be credited with half of the amount he ■ paid when Gourlaouen acquired it. ■

[¶ 8] During the marriage, the parties bought the Yarmouth property for $4.3 million. Both parties made initial contributions toward the purchase price, although Karamanoglu’s contribution exceeded Gourlaouen’s. The referee treated these initial payments as separate capital contributions of the parties. The parties financed the balance of the purchase price through a loan from Karamanoglu’s brother. During the marriage, the parties made payments toward the loan, which the referee treated as equal contributions by the parties to ordinary marital expenses rather than as additional capital contributions. By the time of the hearing, the value of the property had increased to $5 million. The referee quantified the amounts of the parties’ separate interests in the property based on their respective initial capital contributions, and an attribution of the loan payments that is equal between the parties, with the resulting shares increased proportionally .by the profit subsistant. Based on the referee’s recommendation, the judgment establishes Karamanoglu’s and Gourlaouen’s shares of the equity in the Yarmouth property to be approximately $3.1 million and $1.4 million respectively.

[¶ 9] The referee recommended that the Yarmouth and Freeport properties should be set aside to Karamanoglu; that Gourlaouen be awarded the Primelin property; and that as an “equalization payment,” Karamanoglu pay approximately $1 million to Gourlaouen.

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Bluebook (online)
2016 ME 86, 140 A.3d 1249, 2016 Me. LEXIS 98, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/selcuk-karamanoglu-v-catherine-karamanoglu-gourlaouen-me-2016.