Court Opinion

ID: 9714081
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:30:05.586451+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:23.171153
License: Public Domain

DARDEN, Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur with the majority as to Issues I and II; however, I respectfully dissent with regard to Issue III. The majority analogizes the facts of this case to those in In re Marriage of Coyle, 671 N.E.2d 938 (Ind.Ct.App.1996), wherein this court reversed the trial court’s finding that the wife dissipated marital assets by spending marital funds to pay for one of her daughter’s college expenses, and by forgiving interest on a land contract sale of her home to another daughter. We stated that money spent for a child’s education, transportation and housing does not usually constitute waste or misuse of marital assets because they are the kinds of expenditures that parents typically make for their children. I, however, find the facts of Coyle to be distinguishable from those before us. Ernest- did not allege that Mary dissipated the marital assets by spending marital funds to pay for her children’s expenses. Rather, *758he sought a credit for his contribution towards the care of Mary’s minor children during their marriage.
The division of marital property is left to the sound discretion of the trial court. Simpson v. Simpson, 650 N.E.2d 333, 335 (Ind.Ct.App.1995). Mary has cited no authority for the proposition that the trial court lacks discretion to award such a credit, and I know of none. Although I might have exercised my discretion in a different fashion, I think that Mary has failed to show that the trial court abused its discretion in awarding Ernest, who spent more than $80,000 on Mary’s three minor children during their 18 year marriage, the $10,000 credit. I would therefore affirm the grant of the credit.