Opinion ID: 2572748
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The superior court should determine whether to credit David for reducing the principal balance on the 11th Avenue home.

Text: The superior court valued the Beals' 11th Avenue home at $1,100,000 and subtracted the principal balance of $765,219 and selling costs of $66,000 to arrive at an award to Annette of an equity value of $268,781 in its March 7, 2001 property division. David claims that the superior court undervalued the home because the equity value had been substantially increased by his mortgage payments during the pendency of the divorce. He also argues that the superior court erred by denying his request, made in response to Annette's March 28, 2001 filing of a Judgment for Unpaid Interim Support, for a credit to offset the alleged undervaluation of the home in the property division. Annette responds that David is precluded from challenging this issue on appeal because he failed to present evidence supporting his current valuation of the property at trial. We have previously held that the date of valuation should ordinarily be as close as practicable to the date of trial. [23] But while the property should be valued as of the date of trial, and while David did not present evidence supporting his current valuation at the trial, David argues that another avenue to relief is available to him in this case. In opposing Annette's post-trial motion for Judgment for Unpaid Interim Spousal Support, David demonstrated that [t]he huge mortgage payments on the property on 11th do reduce the principal, pointing to the bank's records, submitted by Annette, showing that the mortgage was about $709,000 whereas the court found that the principal was about $765,000. Thus, evidence was before the trial court, shortly after the court issued its valuation, that suggested that the court's findings were incorrect. Because the trial court must consider payments to maintain marital property from post-separation income when dividing marital property, [24] and because David presented his argument and pointed to the evidence supporting it shortly after the court issued its findings, we remand for the superior court to consider whether David should receive credit for post-separation mortgage payments that were part of his interim support payments. David also claims that he should be entitled to additional credit because Annette sold the home for $1,330,000 rather than the $1,100,000 that the court applied to her share of the marital assets in its valuation. This claim is without merit because property is valued for the purposes of division at the time of trial, rather than at the time it is sold. [25] Neither party challenged the $1,100,000 appraisal of the home at trial.