Pursuant to Ind.Appellate Rule 65(D), 

this Memorandum Decision shall not be 

regarded as precedent or cited before 

any court except for the purpose of 

establishing the defense of res judicata, 

collateral estoppel, or the law of the case.

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE:

JEFFREY A. BOGGESS LAKSHMI REDDY

Jeffrey A. Boggess, P.C. Reddy Law Firm

Greencastle, Indiana Terre Haute, Indiana

IN THE

COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

DAVID BUCHANAN, ) 

)

Appellant-Petitioner, )

)

vs. ) No. 60A01-1304-DR-189

)

CAROL BUCHANAN, )

)

Appellee-Respondent. )

APPEAL FROM THE OWEN CIRCUIT COURT

The Honorable Lori Thatcher Quillen, Judge

Cause No. 60C01-1102-DR-24

February 17, 2014

MEMORANDUM DECISION - NOT FOR PUBLICATION

ROBB, Judge
2

Case Summary and Issues

David Buchanan (“Husband”) appeals the trial court’s Decree of Dissolution 

dissolving his marriage to Carol Buchanan (“Wife”). Husband raises three issues for our 

review which we consolidate and restate as two: 1) whether the trial court abused its 

discretion in its property division; and 2) whether the trial court abused its discretion in 

valuing certain property. Concluding the trial court did not abuse its discretion in either 

respect, we affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

Husband and Wife were married on May 30, 1991. In June 2003, they separated, and 

Wife moved to Kentucky, where she has resided since. At the time of separation, Wife was 

receiving unemployment and Husband was working as a construction supervisor. They each 

had a retirement account, and Wife had some stock in UPS, her former employer. The 

parties owned two parcels of real estate: the marital residence in Owen County and a rental 

property in Marion County. They also owned several vehicles including a boat. Wife took 

two of the vehicles, $5,000 from a joint savings account, and various items of personal 

property with her to Kentucky. Husband remained in the marital residence and paid the debt 

obligations on the real estate and the vehicles. Husband filed a Petition for Dissolution on 

February 10, 2011. 

Following a hearing, the trial court issued the following Decree of Dissolution:
3

FINDINGS OF FACT

* * *

3. Husband and Wife have been physically separated since June of 2003, but 

the Petition for Dissolution of Marriage was not filed by Husband until 

February 10, 2011.

* * *

6. The parties have previously divided some of the household goods and items 

of personal property.

7. The parties have separated their bank accounts as of 2003.

* * *

9. The assets to be included in the marital pot are as follows:

i. Real Estate: [marital residence]; [rental property];

ii. Vehicles: 1996 Dodge pickup; 2001 Hyunda [sic] Tiburon, 2001 

Dodge pickup, and 1989 Lund Boat;

iii. Personal Property: Household goods and furnishings and cemetary 

[sic] plot;

iv. Pension/Retirement: Husband’s 401(K) and Wife’s 401(K);

v. Bank Accounts: National City Bank

10. The debts to be included in the marital pot are as follows:

i. Mortgages on Real Estate listed in paragraph 9(i);

11. The assets and debts should be divided equally between Husband and 

Wife.

12. All of the assets and debts shall be valued either on the date of separation 

which was June 2003 or on the date of the filing of the Petition for Dissolution 

on February 10, 2011.

* * *

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

* * *

5. Although the parties physically separated in June of 2003, and that date 

shall be used for determining what assets and debts are included within the 

marital pot, the date of valuation of all property, except Husband’s 401(k), 

shall be February 10, 2011, the date of filing of the Petition for Dissolution of 

Marriage. . . .

6. Wife shall receive, as her sole and separate property, the UPS stock, 

Hyundai Tiburon, the $5000 she took with her to Kentucky, her 401(k), the 

1996 Dodge Truck, [and] the personal property in her possession . . . .

7. Husband shall receive, as his sole and separate property, the [marital 

residence], [his] 401(k), the Lund boat, the burial plot at New Maysville and 

the personal property currently in his possession . . . .

8. Husband shall keep the former marital residence . . . and it is assigned a fair 

market value of $63,000 and a debt of $34,645. Wife’s equitable share in the 

marital residence is $14,177.50. Husband shall be responsible for any other 
4

debt remaining on the home. While Husband continued to make payments on 

the marital residence . . ., he also continued to live in the home and enjoyed the 

value of the property and there is no basis for him to receive any credit for 

those payments.

* * *

11. The [rental property] shall be sold by a realtor agreed upon by the parties 

for a price above the debt obligations. It appears that as of February 10, 2011, 

the debt was $34,556. Husband shall be responsible for continuing to make 

the mortgage payments and the parties shall equally split the net proceeds. 

Husband shall be entitled to any credit for mortgage payments made since 

February 10, 2011 and until the real estate is sold and shall maintain and 

preserve the property.

12. Wife shall keep the 1996 Dodge pickup truck and Husband shall keep the 

2001 Dodge pickup truck and they shall be considered an even exchange with 

equal values based upon the testimony provided.

13. Wife shall keep the 2001 Hyundai Tiburon and Husband shall keep the 

1989 Lund Boat and they shall each be given a value of $2500 for an even 

exchange based upon the testimony provided, blue book values, and loan 

balances. The Husband is not entitled to any credit for the $14,000 he paid 

towards the outstanding debt on the Tiburon prior to the Husband filing for 

dissolution.

14. The parties each have or had their own 401(k) plans during the marriage. 

Wife expended her 401(k) of $19,249.00 and her stock of $1495.00 to support 

herself as she had no other source of income and there were no funds 

remaining at the time the Petition for Dissolution was filed. The Husband still 

has his . . . 401(k) and it is unclear of the value of Husband’s 401(k) on the 

date of filing the Petition for Dissolution. The Wife request [sic] based upon 

Husband’s provided discovery that the Court place a value of $87,299.41 on 

[H]usband’s 401(k). The Husband requests the court use a value of $28,130 

the amount shown as of June 2003. The Court concludes that valuing the 

pension at the higher amount as suggested by Wife would result in an unfair 

windfall to the Wife. The Court in making its determination of value 

considered all of the following:

i. The parties initially separated all of their bank accounts and cash in 

2003. The pension of each party were [sic] substantially similar in 

value in 2003. . . . 

ii. The Court, also in its attempt to reach a fair and equitable division, 

has determined that since the Wife cashed out her pension valuing 

$19,249 and stock at $1495 in 2003, those assets no longer existed in 

February 2011 and therefore would not count as assets in determining 

equity calculations against the Wife. Wife shall be entitled to receive 

an amount from Husband’s 401(k) to provide her an equitable share in 
5

the marital pot after factoring in the $5000 that Wife kept from the 

National City Bank account.

15. A judgment shall be entered for Wife and against Husband in the amount 

of $25,867.50 to equalize the equities. The net value of the property Husband 

took $59,235. The net value of the property Wife took $7500. The difference 

between these two figures is $51,735. One half of $51,735 equals the payment 

of $25,867.50. . . . 

* * *

17. The marriage of the parties is hereby now dissolved.

Appendix of Appellant at 5-9. Husband now appeals.

Discussion and Decision

I. Standard of Review

The trial court issued findings of fact and conclusions thereon pursuant to Indiana 

Trial Rule 52(A). Our standard of review is well-settled: we will not set aside the findings 

or judgment unless they are clearly erroneous. T.R. 52(A). Findings are clearly erroneous 

when the record contains no facts to support them either directly or by inference. Johnson v. 

Wysocki, 990 N.E.2d 456, 460 (Ind. 2013). We neither reweigh the evidence nor judge the 

credibility of the witnesses, but view the evidence most favorably to the judgment. Best v. 

Best, 941 N.E.2d 499, 502 (Ind. 2011). A judgment is clearly erroneous if it applies the 

wrong legal standard to properly found facts. Johnson, 990 N.E.2d at 460. To make a 

determination that a finding or conclusion is clearly erroneous, our review must leave us with 

the firm conviction that a mistake has been made. Id.

II. Property Division

Indiana Code sections 31-15-7-4 and 31-15-7-5 govern disposition of marital assets in 

a dissolution proceeding. Indiana Code section 31-15-7-4(a) provides that the trial court 
6

shall divide the parties’ property whether owned by each of them prior to the marriage, 

acquired by either of them after the marriage but before their final separation, or acquired by 

their joint efforts. “Final separation” is defined as the date the petition for dissolution is 

filed. Ind. Code § 31-9-2-46. It is presumed an equal division of marital property is just and 

reasonable, but that presumption may be rebutted by evidence of several statutory factors 

such as contribution to the acquisition of property, the earning ability and economic 

circumstances of the parties, and the conduct of the parties during the marriage with respect 

to the disposition or dissipation of property. Ind. Code § 31-15-7-5. 

The party challenging a property division must overcome a strong presumption that 

the court complied with the statute and considered the evidence on each of the statutory 

factors. Luttrell v. Luttrell, 994 N.E.2d 298, 301 (Ind. Ct. App. 2013). Assuming the trial 

court’s findings are not erroneous, when reviewing a claim of improper division of marital 

property, the issue is not whether the trial court may have reasonably divided property in 

another way, but whether the division the trial court made constitutes an abuse of discretion. 

Grimes v. Grimes, 722 N.E.2d 374, 376-77 (Ind. Ct. App. 2000), trans. denied. We will 

reverse a property distribution only if there is no rational basis for the award—that is, if the 

result reached is clearly against the logic and effect of the facts and circumstances before the 

court, including the reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom. Luttrell, 994 N.E.2d at 

301. We will also reverse where the trial court has misinterpreted the law or has disregarded 

evidence of statutory factors. Id. 
7

Husband contends that in equally dividing the marital property, the trial court erred in 

failing to consider that for several years in advance of filing for dissolution, the parties were 

living apart and conducting their affairs separately. Specifically, he contends the trial court 

erred in failing to give him any credit for solely paying the joint debt the parties had when 

they physically separated, including mortgages on the parties’ real property and loans on 

various vehicles, and in failing to consider Wife’s “dissipation” of certain marital assets she 

took with her. “The date the parties no longer resided together is a fact which the court can, 

in its discretion, consider in its just and reasonable division of property.” Hunter v. Hunter, 

498 N.E.2d 1278, 1295 (Ind. Ct. App. 1986). 

We disagree with Husband’s assertion that the trial court “fail[ed] to account for the 

parties[’] 8 year separation in its property distribution.” Brief of Appellant at 5. Although it 

was not required to do so, the trial court determined the date of the parties’ physical 

separation was the appropriate date for closing the marital pot given that after that date, the 

parties no longer resided together or conducted their affairs as husband and wife. See Ind. 

Code § 31-15-7-4(a)(2) (defining marital property to include property “acquired by either 

spouse in his or her own right . . . after the marriage; and . . . before final separation of the 

parties . . . .”) (emphasis added). Therefore the trial court did account for the lengthy 

separation in crafting the property division. It was not an abuse of discretion for the trial 

court to determine that Husband’s payment of debts was a voluntary undertaking because he 

never asked Wife to contribute toward those debts and did not file for dissolution in the 

intervening years. 
8

The assets Husband contends Wife dissipated include $5,000 in cash, her 401(k), and 

UPS stock.1 Dissipation of assets is one of the statutory factors that may be used to rebut the 

presumption of an equal division of property being just and reasonable. In re Marriage of 

Coyle, 671 N.E.2d 938, 942 (Ind. Ct. App. 1996). “Waste and misuse are the hallmarks of 

dissipation. Our legislature intended that the term carry its common meaning denoting 

‘foolish’ or ‘aimless’ spending. Dissipation has also been described as the frivolous, 

unjustified spending of marital assets . . . .” Troyer v. Troyer, 987 N.E.2d 1130, 1140 (Ind. 

Ct. App. 2013) (quoting In re Marriage of Coyle, 671 N.E.2d at 943), trans. denied. 

Dissipation does not include the use of marital property to meet routine financial obligations. 

Hardebeck v. Hardebeck, 917 N.E.2d 694, 700 (Ind. Ct. App. 2009). Wife testified that she 

was unemployed when she moved to Kentucky and that she cashed out her 401(k) – with 

Husband’s consent – to support herself until she found a job. There is no evidence that Wife 

frivolously spent those funds, and the trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to 

find Wife’s use of that money was dissipation when dividing the property. In short, Husband 

has not met his burden of showing the trial court’s division of marital property as between 

parties who had long ago separated their property and their lives without the benefit of formal

legal proceedings was anything other than just and reasonable.

III. Valuation of Property

The trial court has broad discretion in determining the value of property in a 

dissolution action, and its valuation will not be disturbed absent an abuse of discretion. 

 

1

 Wife disputed that she had taken $5,000 from the parties’ savings account when she went to 

Kentucky and testified that she still had the UPS stock at the time of the hearing. 
9

Quillen v. Quillen, 671 N.E.2d 98, 102 (Ind. 1996). The trial court may choose to value the 

marital assets as of any date between the date of filing the dissolution petition and the date of 

the final hearing, and it does not have to value every asset as of the same date. McGrath v. 

McGrath, 948 N.E.2d 1185, 1187 (Ind. Ct. App. 2011). In accordance with this rule, the trial 

court appropriately determined that the parties’ property would be valued as of the date of 

final separation, February 10, 2011.2

Husband specifically challenges the trial court’s findings regarding the valuation of 

the parties’ vehicles. With respect to the parties’ two Dodge trucks, the trial court did not 

assign a specific dollar amount to either, but determined that they were “an even exchange 

with equal values based upon the testimony provided.” App. of Appellant at 8. Husband 

contends this finding was erroneous because the 2001 Dodge with which he was left was 

totaled shortly after the parties’ physical separation, and the 1996 Dodge which Wife took 

with her was valued at approximately $7,000: “[e]quating a $7,000 asset with an asset that 

has no value is clearly erroneous.” Br. of Appellant at 8. The testimony, however, was that 

Husband “figured” the 1996 Dodge was worth “around seven thousand, 7,500 at the time she 

took it.” Transcript at 12. There was no testimony about its value in 2011, and little 

testimony about its purchase price, but Husband testified he had purchased the 2001 truck for 

$45,000, and Wife testified they had probably paid “pretty close to the same amount” for the 

1996 truck. Tr. at 55. If the truck had depreciated to $7,000 in seven years, it was not clearly 

 

2

 Most of Husband’s testimony and exhibits at trial were geared toward valuing the property as of the 

parties’ physical separation in 2003. As the trial court noted, this would be an inappropriate date on which to 

value the marital property; moreover, it would most likely have been a difficult endeavor even if allowed given 

the length of the parties’ separation.
10

erroneous for the trial court to determine that it was worth very little, if anything, eight years 

later. Whether the 2001 truck should have been included in the marital pot when it no longer 

existed in 2011 or simply left out of the calculation altogether, inferences from the evidence 

support the trial court’s finding that the 1996 truck also had negligible worth on the valuation 

date. 

With respect to the Hyundai and the boat, the trial court assigned a value of $2,500 

with no debt to each “for an even exchange based upon the testimony provided, blue book 

values, and loan balances.” App. of Appellant at 8. Husband contends this finding is 

erroneous because he paid the debt on both the Hyundai and the boat, and assigning no debt 

to them fails to give him credit for those payments. As noted above, Husband voluntarily 

continued to pay the parties’ debts. In fact, he testified that he did not ask Wife to bring the 

Hyundai back to him from Kentucky or to take over making the payments because “paying 

for the [Hyundai] Tiburon was like paying it forward.” Tr. at 27. As for the boat, Husband 

had the boat in his sole possession, did not ask Wife to contribute toward the loan payments 

or take legal steps to allocate their debts, and presumably had the sole use and enjoyment of 

the boat during the parties’ pre-filing separation. We find no abuse of discretion in the trial 

court’s valuation of the parties’ assets.
11

Conclusion3

The trial court did not abuse its discretion in equally dividing the marital property or in 

valuing that property. The Decree of Dissolution is therefore affirmed.

Affirmed.

BARNES, J., and BROWN, J., concur.

 

3

 Wife contends Husband should be ordered to pay her appellate attorney fees, without citing any 

support for her request. Although this court may assess damages if an appeal is frivolous or in bad faith, see

Ind. Appellate Rule 66(E), Wife has not alleged that Husband’s appeal is frivolous or in bad faith. Rather, she 

alleges “Husband should be ordered to pay Wife’s attorney fees in this appeal so that she is able to receive the 

full benefit of the amount awarded to her by the Trial Court.” Brief of Appellee at 12. Our discretion to award 

attorney fees under this rule is limited “to instances when an appeal is permeated with meritlessness, bad faith, 

frivolity, harassment, vexatiousness, or purpose of delay.” Thacker v. Wentzel, 797 N.E.2d 342, 346 (Ind. Ct. 

App. 2003). It is not intended to “punish mere lack of merit, but something more egregious.” Helmuth v. 

Distance Learning Sys. Ind., Inc., 837 N.E.2d 1085, 1094 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005). Although Husband has not 

prevailed in this appeal, we can discern no basis for awarding attorney fees to Wife.