Opinion ID: 1788790
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Kimberley's Student Loans

Text: At the time of the parties' marriage, Kimberley owed $12,399.43 in student loans. During the marriage, Kimberley's loans were paid off with marital funds. However, in its decree, the trial court accounted for only $7,000 of the $12,399.43 debt that Kimberley brought into the marriage. Paul argues the court erred by failing to deduct the remaining $5,399.43 from Kimberley's award. We agree that Kimberley's award should have been reduced by the total student loan debt that she brought into the marriage because that debt was paid off with marital assets. However, we do not believe this mistake constitutes an abuse of judicial discretion when it is placed in the context of the property division as a whole. In actions for dissolution of marriage, an appellate court reviews the case de novo on the record to determine whether there has been an abuse of discretion by the trial judge; this standard of review applies to the trial court's determinations regarding the division of property. Longo, supra . A judicial abuse of discretion exists when a judge, within the effective limits of authorized judicial power, elects to act or refrains from acting, and the selected option results in a decision which is untenable and unfairly deprives a litigant of a substantial right or a just result in matters submitted for disposition through a judicial system. Nelson v. Nelson, 267 Neb. 362, 674 N.W.2d 473 (2004). Here, the marital estate totaled well over $1 million and the alleged mistake constitutes less than one-half of 1 percent of this total. Under these circumstances, we cannot say the court's error deprived Paul of a substantial right or a just result.