Opinion ID: 1177790
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Distribution of Property

Text: Plaintiff claims that the trial court overvalued the property awarded to her and undervalued the property awarded to defendant and that this resulted in an unfair division of the marital property. The trial court valued the parties' furniture and household effects at a total of $51,484 based on an itemized list of estimated values compiled by defendant and admitted as evidence. Plaintiff claims that defendant's estimates are inflated and that they improperly reflect replacement cost rather than actual market value. Plaintiff suggests no alternative criteria by which the trial court might have evaluated the household property. Plaintiff did not furnish a list of estimates equivalent to that of defendant or any other appraisal of the property. Plaintiff provided one exhibit showing the sources and purchase prices of some furnishings. However, the list is far from complete and contains no indication of current values. Plaintiff was directed in the pretrial order and in an earlier order to supply information concerning such present values, but failed to do so. Apart from defendant's valuation of the property, the only evidence before the court as to value of the parties' household effects consisted of a nonitemized appraisal made at defendant's request by an antique dealer, Tom Olsen. Olsen estimated the value of the contents of the home at a minimum of $50,000 on an immediate sale basis and at a retail replacement value of $100,000. Thus, the only specific evidence presented on the issue of value supports the $51,484 figure adopted by the trial court. The trial court's valuation of the jewelry and furs awarded to plaintiff accords with written appraisals of these items by a highly experienced furrier and jeweler whose qualifications plaintiff does not dispute. Each of the estimates was prepared in accordance with appraisal practices standard in the profession of the appraiser and without knowledge of the purpose of the appraisal. In addition, both appraisals were made more than two years in advance of the trial date. Each of the appraisers, testifying at trial, indicated that the items appraised might have increased significantly in value during the intervening two years. Thus, the trial court did not err in valuing the jewelry and furs in accordance with the professional appraisals provided, which constituted the sole evidence before it on the issue of current value. Plaintiff alleges that the trial court unfairly awarded to defendant most of the income-producing assets, such as stocks, and that most of the property awarded to her was unlikely to increase in value. Even assuming, arguendo, that securities constitute a more desirable asset than tangible real or personal property of equivalent value, we find no injustice in the trial court's allocation of property. The trust received by plaintiff as part of that allocation consisted of stocks, government securities and one promissory note to which plaintiff, in her brief, assigns a total value of approximately $97,500. In addition, plaintiff received National Bancshares stock carrying a value of approximately $13,720 on the first day of trial, according to the testimony of a Merrill Lynch stockbroker. Defendant's E-Systems stocks, on the other hand, held a value of approximately $74,313, according to Wall Street Journal stock quotations for the same day as reported in defendant's testimony. Defendant's remaining stocks, excluding one unit of corporate income fund, carried a stipulated total value of $309. Thus, plaintiff received a total of approximately $111,220 in securities, while those received by defendant amounted to approximately $74,622 in value. Plaintiff also complains that the trial court undervalued defendant's pension fund by assigning to the fund its calculated present value rather than its ultimate future value. Defendant is not presently eligible to receive pension payments and plaintiff has shown no reason why his interest in the fund should be assessed at its projected future value rather than at its actual present worth. Moreover, the parties stipulated, in their pretrial agreement, to the $20,247 valuation used by the trial court. Because the court used an unrealistically low 8% interest rate to compute the present value of the pension, the $20,247 figure is, in all likelihood, too high rather than too low an estimation of value. Valued in accordance with the evidence discussed above and with the trial court's findings, the property distributed to plaintiff carried a total value of $209,250, while the property received by defendant amounted to $133,988 in value. We find no inequity or abuse of discretion in the court's allocation.