WHAT IS VALUE IN DIVORCE COURT?

To establish a fact in trial you need facts on the record. Just how do you prove what things are worth.

Flint Divorce Terry Bankert a Genesee Custody Attornery discusses several issues : Here we have a husband party appealing a judgment of divorce;

The husband asks whether the trial court properly valued the equity and mortgage of the marital home, included the defendant-husband's premarital property as marital property, appraised a John Deere loader, and valued plaintiff-wife's defined contribution accounts;

What is a Review for "clear error"; Sparks v. Sparks; Jansen v. Jansen; Failure to cite to specific references to the record; Begin v. Michigan Bell Tel. Co.

If you have a child custody, child support or parenting time issues in Genesee County or Flint Michigan contact Attorney Terry Bankert 235-1970

Reviewed here is a Michigan Court of Appeals Case,

UNPUBLISHED, October 26, 2010, No. 293323, out of Barry Circuit Court

LC No. 08-000595-DO. The Case Name is : Symoens v. Symoens. Itg can be found in the e-Journal Number: 47203. The Judges are Zahra, Talbot, and Meter.

Here the court held, inter alia, that the trial court did not clearly err in selecting one of the four appraisals of the marital home as the appropriate value because the trial court was familiar with the work of that appraiser and found him to be the most credible witness and the trial court's valuation of the marital home was within the range established by the proofs. Thus, there was no clear error.

HUSBAND CHALLENGES THE COURTS VALUATION

The defendant-husband appealed from the judgment of divorce and challenged the trial court's decisions as to the valuation of the equity and mortgage balance of the marital home, the alleged inclusion of his separate, premarital property as marital property, an alleged encumbrance that would reduce the appraisal value of a John Deere loader, and the valuation of the plaintiff-wife's defined contribution accounts.

The valuation of the marital home is a finding of fact. “Where a trial court’s

valuation of a marital asset is within the range established by the proofs, no clear error is

present.” Jansen v Jansen, 205 Mich App 169, 171; 517 NW2d 275 (1994).

COURT IGNORED SOME OF HUSBANDS ARGUMENTS

The court concluded his other arguments on appeal were not supported by the facts in the record. Defendant failed to acknowledge that the trial court calculated the home's equity by considering both the first and second mortgages.

HUSBAND LOSES SEPARATE PROPERTY ARGUMENT

As to the alleged "separate property" items, defendant did not identify which items on the personal property list were his separate property. Except for a few items marked as separate property, there was no indication of when the things were bought, and the fact that some items were marked as separate led to the inference that the rest were marital property. Further, the cover letter to the list stated that the appraisal was performed at defendant's request. He could hardly complain that property was erroneously included in the list he submitted for appraisal.

JOHN DEERE TRACTOR

Defendant's $12,000 credit account debt was evidence in the record but there was no mention of it being a lien against or otherwise encumbering the John Deere loader. The evidence in the transcript was plaintiff's testimony that there was no debt on the loader. Defendant did not point to any other proof related to the loader. Also, the trial court did not clearly err in assigning the lower values to the retirement accounts.

TRIAL BRIEF HAD EXHIBITS

Although defendant's trial brief included exhibits showing a higher amount, his own trial exhibits were statements from later dates, closer to trial that showed the accounts had decreased in value since the time the trial brief was filed.

A party must support factual statements with specific references to the record. Begin v Mich Bell Tel Co, 284 Mich App 581, 590; 773 NW2d 271 (2009).

THE COURT CORRECTLY USED THE JUDGEMENT VALUES CLOSEST TO TRIAL DATE.

The trial court correctly used the values closest to the trial date.



Posted here By Flint Divorce Lawyer

Terry Bankert
http://attorneybankert.com/