Court Opinion

ID: 9713480
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:16:09.275144+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:09:24.167781
License: Public Domain

HENDERSON, Justice
(specially concurring).
During the marriage, the husband and wife assumed the remaining balance due under a Contract for Deed. When the contract was paid in full, the farm quarter was placed in the sole name of the husband over the wife’s objection. At the time the farm quarter was transferred, the husband and wife were experiencing difficulties in their marriage. It is obvious from the record that neither the husband, nor his family, wanted the wife to have any recorded interest in the family farm which the husband’s relatives had purchased on contract.
However, during the marriage, and as an integral part of paying off the farm, the wife mowed, raked, helped castrate pigs, sorted and loaded pigs, vaccinated cattle, aided in lambing, kept chickens, sold eggs, sold cream, operated a grain truck, drove to town for repairs, and prepared meals and kept a clean room for hired help. While husband and wife worked side by side to pay off the quarter, it inflated in value. She is, therefore, entitled to the fruits of her contributing efforts and a share in the capital improvements and inflationary value.
I have the greatest respect for the learned trial court judge who presided herein, truly a distinguished jurist. Joining my brothers in this opinion and a reversal on the property division issue, I am constrained to express that the learned trial court’s factual finding that this property was not acquired during the marriage, was clearly erroneous thus leading to an abuse of discretion on this particular issue. Conceded, from a standpoint of acquirement, this quarter of land has a peculiar familial history. Be that as it may, the wife, as a good soldier, worked for the deed and she should not be denied a fair property division for her contributions during the marriage. This Court only considers the contributions made by each party during the marriage to *884the acquisition or accumulation of the marital estate. See Vaughn v. Vaughn, 252 N.W.2d 910 (S.D.1977); Hanson v. Hanson, 252 N.W.2d 907 (S.D.1977). See Laird v. Laird, 322 N.W.2d 254 (S.D.1982) (Henderson, J., concurring specially).
In awarding the custody of the children to the father, the trial court set forth ten explicit reasons in a Memorandum Opinion which was incorporated into findings of fact, as to why it was in the best interests of the children’s temporal, mental and moral welfare to so award the father custody. Essentially, the trial court found that the father would provide the best guidance, discipline and training for the children and in a wholesome environment. Although anguishing over the decision, and describing it as painful, the trial court ultimately concluded the father should be awarded custody. As I review this case, it is impossible to say that either the mother or father were unsuitable for custody. Both appeared to be good people. Due regard must be given to the opportunity of the trial court to judge the credibility of the witnesses and to weigh their testimony, and the trial court’s findings will not be set aside unless they are clearly erroneous. SDCL 15-6-52(a); Spaulding v. Spaulding, 278 N.W.2d 639 (S.D.1979). The facts herein, as regards custody, pose a classic case for this Court to abide by the rule of deference. And so it is likewise with attorney’s fees for, under our reversed holding on the real property division, neither party is in an economically superior position.