Opinion ID: 1852434
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Unconstitutional Division of Marital Property

Text: [¶ 21] Roland asserts the trial court erred by not dividing the parties' property as required by N.D. Const. art. XI, § 23. We quote Roland's entire argument on this issue: [A]s a matter of law, Article 11, Section 23 of the North Dakota [sic] allows women to keep their pre-marital property. As a matter of state law (and probably Federal Constitutional Law as well) in North Dakota, gender terms are interchangeable. N.D.C.C. 1-01-34. Therefore by North Dakota constitution parties keep premarital property. N.D. Const. art. XI, § 23, provides: The real and personal property of any woman in this state, acquired before marriage, and all property to which she may, after marriage become in any manner rightfully entitled, shall be her separate property, and shall not be liable for the debts of her husband. This provision quite clearly and simply provides that the premarital property of a woman remains her property upon marriage and is not subject to her husband's separate debts. Prior to statehood and the adoption of our state constitution, the Dakota Territorial Legislature enacted legislation with similar language to the above-quoted constitutional provision, making the separate property of the husband and wife not liable for the debts incurred by the other before marriage. See Civ. C. 1877, § 83; S.L. 1893, ch. 52, § 2; R.C. 1895, § 2770, subss. 1 to 4; R.C. 1899, § 2770, subss. 1 to 4. That legislation is currently codified under N.D.C.C. § 14-07-08. [3] [¶ 22] In Keig v. Keig, 270 N.W.2d 558, 560 (N.D.1978), this Court concluded the statutory language is not part of our divorce law and does not affect the court's authority to divide marital property: Section 14-07-08, NDCC, is not part of our divorce law. This statute was passed in 1877 by the Dakota Territorial Legislature (Dakota Civil Code § 83, 1877) for the purpose of giving married women some control over their separately acquired property. Derived from California Civil Code § 169 (1872), § 14-07-08 gave married women the power to hold property in their own names, a right which previously had existed only for men. ..... Under § 14-05-24, NDCC, the trial court has jurisdiction to consider both joint and individual property owned by the parties in reaching an equitable division. This Court's decision in Keig did not address N.D. Const. art. XI, § 23. However, that constitutional provision contains language and import similar to the statute. We conclude the constitutional provision, like the statute, is not part of our divorce law and has no application to the court's division of marital assets in dissolving a marriage. We, therefore, further conclude Roland has not provided persuasive argument that his alleged rights under N.D. Const. art. XI, § 23 were violated by the trial court in dividing the parties' marital property.