Court Opinion

ID: 9602696
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 01:58:58.291437+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:06:39.484197
License: Public Domain

DURHAM, Justice
(dissenting):
I agree with the legal standard described by the majority opinion and with the construction it applies to Utah Code Ann. § 75-6-103. I disagree, however, with the majority’s interpretation of what the trial court did in this case. My review of the record, including the evidence at trial and the trial court’s findings and conclusions, convinces me that the trial court followed the statute and entered a judgment supported by substantial evidence.
The trial' court found that during their twenty-eight-year marriage, the monies, financial affairs, and business of Louise and *1060Ben Maxfield were extensively intermingled. In' its findings of fact, the court specifically found, “The bulk of the property brought into the marriage by John Ben Maxfield lost its character as separate property and became marital property to which each contributed one-half (1/2).'” The use of the term “marital property” in this context may have been unfortunate and has, I think, misled the majority regarding the nature of this finding. In light of the extensive joint participation of both Louise and Ben in every aspect of the management and sale of their assets (including those brought into the marriage by Ben and those acquired and developed during the marriage), it seems clear to me that the trial court regarded as jointly owned the majority of the monies placed into the Maxfield accounts as of the time they were deposited. This view is consistent with the trial court’s oral statement at the end of trial: “Therefore, as it applies to the accounts, I find that each contributed one half. Finding anything different would have to be simple speculation on my part as to what percentage each contributed at that point.”
The trial court's judgment is supported by the law and the facts. I would affirm.
ZIMMERMAN, J., concurs in the dissenting opinion of DURHAM, J.