Court Opinion

ID: 9688043
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:58:18.840482+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:34.588596
License: Public Domain

SCHUMACHER, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. We must affirm the trial court’s findings of fact supporting the conclusion that the North Shore property is nonmarital unless the findings are clearly erroneous. See Campion v. Campion, 385 N.W.2d 1, 4 (Minn.App.1986). “Clearly erroneous” means “manifestly contraiy to the weight of the evidence or not reasonably supported by the evidence as a whole.” Northern States Poiver Co. v. Lyon Food Prods., 304 Minn. 196, 201, 229 N.W.2d 521, 524 (1975).
The conveyance of the property to the parties as joint tenants and the designation of both parties as recipients of the gift for tax purposes does not constitute conclusive evidence of Klemmet Anderson’s intent. See Montgomery v. Montgomery, 358 N.W.2d 169, 172 (Minn.App.1984) (transfer of title into joint tenancy does not alone transform nonmarital property into marital property). The trial court found that Anderson’s true intent to give the property to respondent alone is shown by the following facts: (a) respondent is Anderson’s niece and Anderson wanted to keep the property in respondent’s family; (b) Anderson has a close relationship with respondent but virtually no relationship with appellant; (c) title was placed in joint tenancy at respondent’s request because both respondent and Anderson believed that joint tenancy was the proper form of title for a married person, not because Anderson intended to give the property to appellant; and (d) but for his marriage to respondent, appellant’s name would not have been included in the transfer documents. Moreover, Anderson indicated his intent was to transfer the property to respondent. The record supports the trial court’s findings. See Kennedy v. Kennedy, 403 N.W.2d 892, 897 (Minn.App.1987) (appellate court must review evidence in light most favorable to trial court’s findings).
Because it is the trial court’s function to weigh conflicting evidence, I cannot say that the trial court clearly erred in finding that Anderson intended to give the property to respondent only. See Moon v. Moon, 378 N.W.2d 49, 53-54 (Minn.App.1985) (although joint ownership of note, coupled with wife’s testimony, could have justified finding that forgiveness of note is marital property, it was not clear abuse of discretion for trial court to accord more weight to husband’s evidence). I would affirm the trial court’s legal determination that the North Shore property is non-marital, because the underlying findings of fact are not clearly erroneous. In view of appellant’s superior earning ability, I would also affirm the trial court’s refusal to apportion respondent’s nonmarital property. See Reynolds v. Reynolds, 498 N.W.2d 266, 271 (Minn.App.1993) (very severe disparity between parties required to sustain finding of unfair hardship necessary to apportion non-marital property).