Opinion ID: 6332199
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: In a property division following divorce, the superior court determined that the marital estate should be divided 60/40 in the husband’s favor because of his lower earning potential. But the court then considered the husband’s sale of the marital home; it found there were remodeling expenses and financial dealings that were inadequately explained and contributed to a loss of marital equity, and it decided to offset that loss by dividing the wife’s retirement savings plan 70/30 in her favor. And because the retirement savings plan was the most significant marital asset, this allocation of it resulted in a property division that highly favored the wife. The husband appeals, alleging errors in the property division, in the child support order, and at trial. We conclude that the property division failed to follow the proper procedure for addressing the post-separation dissipation of marital assets: first valuing the dissipated asset at the time of separation and then crediting that amount to the responsible spouse in the property division. We also conclude that a figure for the amount of lost marital equity used in the property division was clearly erroneous. We therefore vacate the property division and remand for further consideration. In all other respects we affirm the superior court’s judgment.