Court Opinion

ID: 9843760
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 02:43:03.994015+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:54.425153
License: Public Domain

KAPSNER, Justice,
concurring in the result.
[¶ 19] I concur with the result of the majority opinion. The matter must be returned to the trial court to apply the Ruff-Fischer guidelines to the distribution of the house as part of the equitable division of property. This result is dictated by the terms of the prenuptial agreement itself:
PROPERTY ACQUIRED AFTER MARRIAGE
4. Any property acquired after marriage, except any property related to or involved with the businesses of HUSBAND (the farm business and Four Star Farm Services, Inc.) shall be considered marital property and shall not be subject to this agreement.
[¶ 20] Under paragraph 7 of the agreement, the parties have waived rights to equitable distribution except for property that falls under paragraph 4:
WAIVER OF EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION
7. Except as otherwise provided in paragraph A- of this Agreement, it is agreed and understood between the parties that each does hereby waive and relinquish whatever right they may acquire to share in the assets of the other as a result of their marriage. Each specifically waives and relinquishes all of their rights to equitable distribution. It is specifically agreed between the parties that in the event of a divorce or annulment there shall be no equitable distribution of any assets held by either as his or her separate property.
(Emphasis added.)
[¶ 21] Under paragraph 4 of the prenuptial agreement, property acquired after the marriage is considered marital property unless the acquired property is related to or involved in the businesses of the husband which are specifically identified in paragraph 4 as “the farm business and Four Star Farm Services, Inc.”
[¶22] The house was acquired after the marriage. Although Jerome Jangula persuasively shows the funds used to purchase the house were related to the farm business, he does not argue the house is related to either of the identified businesses. Paragraph 4 requires that the acquired property itself be related to or involved with the businesses. It is not. Therefore, paragraph 4 determines that the acquired property, the house, “shall be considered marital property and shall not be subject to this agreement.” Inclusion of the house in marital property is only the beginning of the analysis, and the trial court has not determined how the Ruff-Fischer guidelines will impact on its distribution of the house as part of the equitable division of marital property.
[¶ 23] Carol Ronning Kapsner