Opinion ID: 1177790
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Division of Liabilities

Text: Plaintiff contends that the trial court unfairly burdened her by requiring her to pay $10,633 in liabilities consisting chiefly of unpaid credit card balances. Plaintiff in her testimony did not attribute any of the credit card debts to expenditures made on behalf of defendant. However, she claims that some of the liabilities represent expenditures made on behalf of the children, implying that defendant should bear responsibility for such expenditures. Plaintiff presented no evidence at trial to show what percentage of the credit card liabilities might be attributed to expenditures in behalf of the children, specifically identifying only two such expenditures. All of the children of the parties are over 18 years of age and none was living at home at the time of trial. From the evidence presented, the trial court properly might have concluded that plaintiff had incurred the credit card liabilities principally for her own benefit and that she should bear responsibility for such liabilities. Plaintiff also labels as unjust the trial court's order that she pay a portion of the parties' 1979 joint tax liability. The total federal income tax of the parties in 1979 was $13,917 plus interest and penalties. Of this amount, defendant assumed responsibility for $11,821. Plaintiff, who acknowledges that her own 1979 income constituted one-sixth of the total income of the parties, was ordered to pay $2,604, approximately one-sixth of the total tax. It is difficult to see how the trial court's division of tax liabilities could have been improved upon.