Court Opinion

ID: 9782766
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 19:13:22.213639+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:35:11.248126
License: Public Domain

FRIEDLANDER, Judge,
concurring in result.
I concur with the Majority and write separately to stress that my vote is based upon the internal inconsistency that is apparent in the trial court’s division of property. The court expressed its intention to divide the property equally between Husband and Wife. Without further elaboration, I take the trial court’s expression to mean that it intended that each party was to receive a portion of the total marital estate that was more or less equal in value to the other party’s portion. Moreover, read in context, the court’s order clearly conveyed that this equality of value was to be measured at the time the dissolution decree was entered. Yet, the trial court acknowledged that, by that time, the Shawmut Property was actually worth $160,000 less than the value assigned to it — i.e., $160,000 less than the value necessary to achieve a true equal division at the time of dissolution. A trial court has the discretion to choose a valuation date from among a range of options, and it has the discretion to divide an estate evenly, or not, depending upon particular circumstances. It may not, however purport to achieve a current equal division by assigning a value to an asset that does not comport with current reality.