Opinion ID: 2818725
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Shaw’s Retirement Account

Text: [¶9] Michael argues that the court erred in awarding spousal support to Jennifer. In fact, the court did not order Michael to pay spousal support. Rather, 6 in its division of marital property and in lieu of spousal support, the court set aside to Jennifer the Shaw’s Supervalu Retirement Account from Michael’s employment, with a value of roughly $22,500. In its judgment, the court explained that this award was “to effectuate an equitable division of property, and [was] in consideration of [Jennifer’s] waiver of her right to receive spousal support from [Michael].” Therefore, one of the two conjunctive reasons why the court set aside the Shaw’s Supervalu account to Jennifer is that otherwise, she would have had a “right” to spousal support. The court did not issue findings of fact to support this conclusion and subsequently denied Michael’s motion for findings of fact and conclusions of law on the point. [¶10] Michael’s motion is governed by Rule 52(a) because the court had not issued findings of fact and conclusions of law on the issues that were the subject of the motion. When the court has not made findings of fact or conclusions of law, it “shall, upon the request of a party made as a motion within 5 days after notice of decision, . . . find the facts specially and state separately its conclusions of law thereon.” M.R. Civ. P. 52(a) (Tower 2013). When a party requests that the court issue findings of fact and conclusions of law, “[t]he divorce court has a duty to make findings sufficient to inform the parties of the reasoning underlying its conclusions and to provide for effective appellate review.” Bayley v. Bayley, 602 A.2d 1152, 1153-54 (Me. 1992); see also Dalton v. Dalton, 2014 ME 108, 7 ¶ 20, 99 A.3d 723 (holding that when a party files a motion pursuant to Rule 52(a), the court’s obligation to issue findings and conclusions is “mandatory.”).3 [¶11] In some circumstances, the court may properly adjust the division of the marital estate based on factors relevant to spousal support. 19-A M.R.S. §§ 951-A(2)(C), (3) (2014). In its judgment and order denying Michael’s Rule 52(a) motion, however, the court did not provide findings to support its conclusion that Jennifer had a “right” to receive spousal support. As a result, the court has not explained why it decided to award Jennifer the entire Shaw’s retirement account as a substitute for the support it may have awarded to her otherwise. This omission prevents meaningful appellate review of this aspect of the property division, and we vacate the award of the Shaw’s retirement account to Jennifer and remand for the court to issue findings and conclusions on its award. See Bayley, 602 A.2d at 1154. 3 Michael did not include proposed findings and conclusions as part of his Rule 52(a) motion. Although the better practice is for the moving party to propose findings for the court’s consideration in order to direct the court’s attention to specific aspects of the case, Rule 52(a) does not require submission of proposed findings. This is in contrast to motions submitted under Rule 52(b), which governs a motion for issuance of findings and conclusions beyond those already provided by the court. Wandishin v. Wandishin, 2009 ME 73, ¶ 18, 976 A.2d 949. Although we have held that a Rule 52(b) motion must be supported by proposed findings and conclusions, see, e.g., Dalton v. Dalton, 2014 ME 108, ¶ 21, 99 A.3d 723; Bell v. Bell, 1997 ME 154, ¶ 6, 697 A.2d 835, we have not imposed that requirement for Rule 52(a) motions. Accordingly, under the analysis applicable to Rule 52(a), Michael’s motion was not deficient. Jennifer has not challenged the sufficiency of Michael’s Rule 52(a) motion based on any requirements that may arise from Rule 7(b) of the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure. We therefore do not address the question of whether Rule 7 requires a party who files a Rule 52(a) motion to submit proposed findings and conclusions, even though Rule 52(a), standing alone, does not. 8