Court Opinion

ID: 9552962
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:19:37.854149+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:29:26.696617
License: Public Domain

MATTHEWS, Justice,
joined by RABI-NO WITZ, Chief Justice, dissenting.
Appellant owned at the time of her marriage to appellee six parcels of real property. The trial court allowed her to keep as her separate property two of these six parcels; appellee was given an undivided one-half interest in the other four.
While the trial court concluded that equity required this result, this conclusion has no perceptible support in the court’s findings. In particular, the court did not find the value of the property acquired during the marriage, or of the six parcels which appellant brought into the marriage. The court also made no findings which might tend to explain why the balancing of the equities between the parties to this brief marriage required that the appellee, an able bodied man more than ten years younger than appellant, should become, upon divorce, a tenant in common with appellant in most of her separate property.
Civil Rule 52(a) requires that the trial judge in a non-jury trial enter specific findings of fact. Such findings must include “as much of the subsidiary facts as is necessary to disclose to the reviewing court the steps by which the trial court reached its ultimate conclusion on each factual issue.” State v. Kaatz, 572 P.2d 775, 781 (Alaska 1977) quoting 9 C. Wright and A. Miller, Federal Practice & Procedure § 2579 at 710 (1971). The findings requirement exists not only to make appellate review meaningful, but to ensure a reasoned judgment on the part of the trial court. It “gives assurance that he has exercised care in ascertaining the facts, and has employed both skill and judgment in reducing his thoughts on contested matters to precise and pertinent findings. ...” Merrill v. Merrill, 368 P.2d 546, 548 (Alaska 1962).
Due to the inadequacy of the court’s findings informed appellate review is not possible on this record, and there is no objective assurance that the trial court engaged in a reasoned, thoughtful decision-making process. For this reason I would remand this case to the trial court with directions to make findings as to the value of each parcel of property involved and to explain its rationale for invading appellant’s separate property.