Opinion ID: 1960127
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The School Street Property

Text: Richard and Lauris purchased the School Street property after the marriage. They both testified that it was worth $64,000. Richard believed the mortgage balance was $30,000, while Lauris believed it was about $27,000. According to Lauris, the current equity was therefore $37,000. The trial court ruled that the property was marital and awarded it to Lauris. The court found that the property was worth $64,000 and was encumbered by a $37,000 mortgage. Thus, the court charged Lauris with receiving only $27,000 in marital property. Despite this apparent error, Richard did not file a motion to correct pursuant to M.R.Civ.P. 60(a). [3] On appeal Richard argues that the court inadvertently switched the figure for Lauris's marital equity ($37,000) with the amount of the mortgage ($27,000). As a result, Lauris was credited with $10,000 less in marital equity than she received. Lauris responds that Richard made no attempt to bring this alleged error to the trial court's attention pursuant to M.R.Civ.P. 60(a), implying that he waived his right to raise this issue on appeal. Although Richard could have filed a Rule 60(a) motion, we are unaware of any requirement that he must do so in order to preserve this issue for appeal. From our review of the record, it appears that the court erroneously understated by $10,000 Lauris's actual award of marital property. On remand, the trial court should increase the total amount of her award by $10,000.