Opinion ID: 2085235
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Credit-Card Debt

Text: The trial justice declared that plaintiff and defendant individually would be responsible for any credit cards or credit accounts standing in the party's name. John argues that this was error because the credit-card debt that he incurred was for household expenses, short-term cash-flow shortages, and payments toward Giselda's credit-card balances. This Court will not disturb the equitable assignment of marital property if we are satisfied that the trial justice considered the requisite statutory elements set forth in § 15-5-16.1 and did not overlook or misconceive relevant and material evidence. Tondreault, 966 A.2d at 659 (citing DeAngelis, 923 A.2d at 1277; Ruffel, 900 A.2d at 1184). Although we are troubled by the dearth of findings on this issue, we are not convinced that the trial justice erred. Significantly, the record reveals that the parties agreed that John was responsible for producing income to support the family and Giselda was the principal homemaker. It is clear that much of the credit-card debt was incurred to pay for household expenses when John was unemployed. Although Giselda was responsible for some of this personal debt, ultimately John elected to use his credit cards to meet familial obligations as well as to pay Giselda's credit-card debt. Therefore, we affirm the trial justice's assignment of credit-card debt individually to each party.