Opinion ID: 2296470
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Property Division Proper

Text: Mr. Hughes' second claim is that the Family Court erred and/or abused its discretion when it determined that the division of marital assets and debts should favor Ms. Peterson. Pursuant to section 1513, upon request of either party, the Family Court shall equitably divide, distribute and assign marital property to the parties without regard to marital misconduct, in such proportions as the Family Court deems just after considering all relevant factors. The enumerated factors are: the length of the marriage; any prior marriage of the parties; the age, health, station, amount and source of income, vocational skills, employability, estate, liabilities and needs of each of the parties; whether the property award is in lieu of or in addition to alimony; the opportunity of each for future acquisitions of capital assets and income; the contribution or dissipation of each party in the acquisition, preservation, depreciation or appreciation of the marital property; the value of the property set apart to each party; the economic circumstances of each party at the time the division of property is to become effective; whether the property was acquired by gift; the debts of the parties; and tax consequences. [11] The Family Court need not give equal weight to each factor in reaching its decision. [12] At the property division hearing, Mr. Hughes testified concerning his earnings and savings. Between January and March of 2008, he had a retirement account with a balance of over $108,000. By March of 2009, the balance in the account had dropped to approximately $25,500, but he was unable to explain where the money in the account went. Nor was he able to explain where the money from various liquidated stocks and another 401K plan went. According to the testimony presented, Ms. Peterson was the primary breadwinner during the marriage, although Mr. Hughes was responsible for managing the parties' finances, about which Ms. Peterson knew little. Ms. Peterson presented detailed documentation of improvements to Mr. Hughes' home in Delmar, Delaware, many of which were paid for by a loan taken out by Ms. Peterson against her own property in Crisfield, Maryland. Although her name is not on the deed to the Delmar property, Ms. Peterson co-signed a mortgage against the home in the amount of $54,822. The evidence showed that Mr. Hughes withdrew monies from the parties' joint account and deposited them into a joint account held by Mr. Hughes and his son by another marriage. Ms. Peterson testified that she had no knowledge of this. While Mr. Hughes testified that he spent monies from his retirement account to settle premarital debts of Ms. Peterson, he produced no documentation to support that assertion. Ms. Peterson, on the other hand, produced detailed documentation to support her position that she brought less than $5,000 of debt into the marriage. The evidence showed that a large amount of joint credit card debt incurred by Mr. Hughes without Ms. Peterson's knowledge went into improvements on his Delmar home. Mr. Hughes' claim that Ms. Peterson incurred a sizeable amount of credit card debt on her own during their marriage was unsupported by any documentation. In its order dividing the parties' marital property, the Family Court explicitly considered each of the § 1513 factors and the evidence adduced at the hearing that was relevant to each. The Family Court's findings are supported by the record. [13] Its property division decision is the product of an orderly and logical deductive process. [14] Accordingly, in the absence of any error of law, we conclude that the Family Court's decision dividing the marital assets 55%/45% in favor of Ms. Peterson and dividing the marital debts 45%/55% in her favor must be affirmed.