Opinion ID: 887711
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: District Court's valuation of Liz's Idaho property at $40,000.00

Text: ¶33 Jim challenges the District Court's valuation of Liz's share of the Idaho property she co-owns with her father and her sisters. Liz testified that after the original purchase, her father acquired, through a property trade, the Idaho property share held by one of her sisters. This resulted in confusion about whether there were now four co-owners, or five. The District Court determined that Liz held a one-fifth share interest in the property. The District Court therefore divided the $200,000.00 equity in the property by five which resulted in a $40,000.00 equity share to Liz. While Jim testified that he believed the property had appreciated in value and such an appreciated value should be used to determine the value of Liz's share, he produced no evidence of this appreciated value at trial. Foreman, ¶ 37. We therefore assign no error to the court's evaluation. A district court may value marital property based on expert testimony, lay testimony, documentary evidence, or any combination thereof, as long as the valuation is reasonable in light of the evidence submitted. In re Marriage of Crilly, 2005 MT 311, ¶ 19, 329 Mont. 479, ¶ 19, 124 P.3d 1151, ¶ 19.