Opinion ID: 1245955
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Heggen Equipment, Inc.

Text: Patricia also contends that the trial court erred by determining, in effect, that the value of Heggen Equipment, Inc., was a negative $55,108. She asserts that the trial court achieved this unintended result by overlooking the fact that the value of the stock awarded to John, set by the trial court at $284,900, should have been a net value and not, as the trial court treated it, a gross value. She contends that when the trial court included the $284,900 value in the total marital estate but then proceeded to offset it with associated corporate debt, the effect was to deduct the corporate debt twice in arriving at the net marital estate. She does not dispute that there is $340,008 in corporate debt but she asserts that all the estimates of corporate value given at trial were net values, values which accounted for the debt of the corporation. In asserting that the trial court found a negative value of $55,108 for the corporation, Patricia overlooks the fact that the trial court also included in its valuation of the marital estate, $93,060 in liquid corporate assets. Adding this figure to the stock valuation of $284,900, yields a value of $377,960 for the corporation. Nevertheless, if Patricia is correct in her assertion that the stock valuation is a net value, the court's twice counting the corporate debt would reduce the value of the corporate assets to $37,952. We agree that this finding is not supported by any evidence and is clearly erroneous. The evidence demonstrates that witnesses for both parties valued the corporation on a net basis. John's accountant testified that the corporation had a net value of $320,000. Patricia's accountant testified that the corporation's net value was $340,000. An exhibit prepared by John stated a value of $150,000 without any associated corporate debt. Thus, the trial court's valuation of $377,960 (stock plus corporate liquid assets) is supported by the evidence only if the $377,960 figure is a net value. By definition, a net value is one from which liabilities have already been deducted. See Urlaub v. Urlaub, 325 N.W.2d 234, 237 (N.D.1982); Hoge v. Hoge, 281 N.W.2d 557, 561 (N.D.1979). To include the net corporate value in the calculation of the marital estate and then offset it with corporate debt, thereby reducing the net marital estate further, is clear error.