Opinion ID: 1278184
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: proceeds from the sale of the house

Text: The divorce decree required that the proceeds from the sale of Mr. Shaw's and Mrs. Lord's house be divided equally. The court also ordered that before dividing the proceeds the parties expenses in preparing the house for sale and other debts to each other be deducted. Mrs. Lord objects to the manner in which those deductions were made. The trial court found that Mrs. Lord owed Mr. Shaw $805.70 for savings withdrawals, rent, and repair costs, and that Mr. Shaw owed Mrs. Lord $1,519.41 for rent, back child support, and repair costs. The difference was $713.71 in favor of Mrs. Lord. The proceeds, which had been placed in a trust account, totaled approximately $34,000. The trial court ordered that the $713.71 be paid to Mrs. Lord out of the $34,000 prior to dividing it. However, that order would not result in subtracting the $713.71 from Mr. Shaw's equal share, but instead would result in subtracting half of $713.71 from both Mr. Shaw's and Mrs. Lord's equal shares. The appropriate resolution is to subtract the $713.71 from only Mr. Shaw's equal share. Therefore, we remand for the limited purpose of providing that the money in the trust account should first be divided equally between the parties, then Mr. Shaw's share should be reduced by the amount which he owes Mrs. Lord. Mrs. Lord also claims that the trial court did not properly consider the expenses she incurred in preparing the house for sale. The trial court ordered the parties to submit affidavits regarding the expenses for repairing the house. After reviewing the affidavits, the judge credited $503.93 to the plaintiff, which is included in the $713.71 credit. We do not find this conclusion unreasonable or an abuse of discretion.