Opinion ID: 2629983
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The XMSR Stock

Text: [¶ 9] In Madigan's first appellate issue, he asserts that the divorce decree should be corrected to conform to the district court's decision letter. The decision letter provided that each [party] will retain the accounts in their respective names. However, the divorce decree awarded Madigan the accounts in his name, except for 50 shares of XMSR stock which shall be awarded to [Maas]. Madigan contends that this inconsistency between the decision letter and the divorce decree is the result of a mistake by the district court and should be corrected. He urges that we remand the case with instructions to conform the divorce decree to the decision letter. [¶ 10] In support of this contention, Madigan cites Root, 2003 WY 36, ¶ 25, 65 P.3d at 49. There, the district court's decision letter stated that the husband was to receive $25,000.00 from the wife. Id. The divorce decree, however, omitted this award. Id. Neither party raised the omission on appeal. Id. at ¶ 26, 65 P.3d at 49. However, because the district court undeniably intended the husband to receive this amount, we remanded the case with instructions to conform the divorce decree to the decision letter. Id. [¶ 11] Unlike the omission of $25,000.00 in Root, the record in this case does not indicate that the award of the XMSR stock to Maas resulted from an oversight or mistake. Although the district court's decision letter provided that each party would retain his or her own accounts, it also stated that it would adopt Maas' proposed distribution, which proposal included a request for an accounting of the XMSR stock. The divorce decree specifically addressed the stock and clearly provided for its disposition. The decree of divorce read: [Madigan] is awarded . . . all personal property, including retirement accounts, investment accounts, bank accounts, vehicles, and notes, and reimbursement payments solely in his name, except for 50 shares of XMSR stock which shall be awarded to [Maas]. If [Madigan] chooses to retain this stock instead of transferring it to [Maas], [Maas] shall receive a credit of $1300 toward satisfaction of the equity payment in paragraph 9 of this decree. (Emphasis added.) The adoption of Maas' proposed distribution and subsequent award of the XMSR stock does not appear to be a mistake, but rather an exercise of the district court's discretion. We have held the district court may, in its discretion, make changes in the final order from what was indicated in the decision letter. The trial judge's decision letters, discussing legal principles and expressing his conclusions of law, [do] not constitute a judicial determination which may be considered a final order. We analogize that, if a trial court in exercise of its discretion may modify tentative decisions until entry of the final order, it does not err in rendering a decree with changed provisions. Broadhead v. Broadhead, 737 P.2d 731, 733 (Wyo.1987). [2] [¶ 12] The absence of mistake in awarding the XMSR stock to Maas is further evidenced by the district court's denial of Madigan's post-trial motion to correct the decree of divorce, wherein Madigan asserted that the Decree of Divorce should be corrected to provide that [he] receive the XMSR stock with no credit to [Maas] for its value. Had the district court erroneously awarded Maas the XMSR stock, surely it would have granted Madigan's motion and corrected the decree of divorce. [¶ 13] We conclude that the award of the XMSR stock to Maas was not the result of a mistake or omission, but rather an exercise of the district court's discretion in dividing the parties' property. Madigan does not argue that the district court abused its discretion in making that award, and we find nothing in the record indicating such an abuse. Therefore, we affirm the award of the XMSR stock to Maas.