Opinion ID: 1166304
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Dispositive Facts

Text: The record in this case is extremely fragmented, garbled and complicated, through no fault of the parties. Numerous facts and issues raised by both parties will not be repeated here, although they were very carefully considered by the Court. The parties were married in Washington, D.C. on January 22, 1955, while Col. Hughes was in military service. At all material times prior to July 10, 1966, the date the parties established New Mexico as their domicile, Col. Hughes retained his home state of Iowa as his legal residence. The parties decided to establish a new and permanent domicile and invest in property for a future home. Mrs. Hughes took the initiative to write to various states to obtain information. They decided on Santa Fe, New Mexico as the city in which they desired to establish a home. They purchased an unimproved tract of land in Santa Fe County in 1965 and moved to Santa Fe in July 1966. They subsequently purchased the apartments which are a subject of this appeal. In 1967, after moving to New Mexico, Col. Hughes was ordered to combat duty in Viet Nam and on May 5 of that year near Hanoi, North Viet Nam, his airplane was shot down. He was captured and held as a prisoner of war until March 3, 1973. During this six-year period Mrs. Hughes and the children maintained their residence in Santa Fe and Mrs. Hughes worked to maintain and develop the properties in question here, as well as another group of apartments purchased by the parties, located at 120 W. Santa Fe Avenue (hereinafter: 120 apartments), which latter apartments were found by the trial court to be the community property of the parties. We will discuss material facts later that relate to the other claims of the parties together with our analysis of the law as to each of those points.