Opinion ID: 882378
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The marital debts.

Text: The District Court found that Charlene's debt to Security State Bank was $3,000.00, and that her total personal debt was $4,400.00. By piecing together the fragmented testimony about the bank loans and other debt, it is clear that the District Court's finding is incorrect and that Charlene's personal debt which she incurred for living expenses prior to trial is $8,900.00  $4,500.00 more than the amount in the District Court's finding. The District Court also found that Roger owed his father, Joe Schmitz, $22,600.00 for a tractor and a combine which Roger used as trade-ins on new equipment purchased during the marriage. Roger and his father testified as to the claimed loans. Roger's testimony was inconsistent as to the amount of the loan. He claimed the loan was approximately $22,000.00 and later contradicted that statement. Joe Schmitz testified he thought the loan amount was about $28,000.00 or even more but that he had never made any demand for the money. So far as any payment date is concerned, Roger only testified that there was a verbal agreement that he would pay his father in due time. The father testified that he had not made a demand for the money and if Roger did not pay it, it would eventually come out of his estate. In In re the Marriage of Malquist (1987), 227 Mont. 413, 739 P.2d 482, we addressed a similar situation. In Malquist, the wife attempted to include loans from her mother amounting to $42,000,00 as part of the marital debt. We refused to include the debt on the basis of oral testimony alone, stating: There is no other evidence in the record, such as a loan agreement, promissory note, canceled checks, or any form of receipt to substantiate the amount, existence or terms of the loans from [the wife's] mother. Proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law must be sufficiently comprehensive to provide a basis for the trial court's decision, and must be supported by the evidence presented. Malquist, 739 P.2d at 484-85, citing In re the Marriage of Benner (1985), 219 Mont. 188, 193, 711 P.2d 801, 805. [6] The facts in this case are comparable to Malquist. No evidence was presented of a loan agreement, note, check, form of receipt, or existence or terms of loans. We therefore conclude that the computation of marital debts was substantially incorrect in that the debt owed by Charlene was $8,900.00 as compared to the $4,400.00 awarded by the court. In addition, we conclude that the amount of $22,600.00 could not properly be included as a debt owed by Roger to Joe Schmitz.