Court Opinion

ID: 9571857
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:35:52.878483+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:31:06.342607
License: Public Domain

MATTHEWS, Justice,
concurring.
In this case the court intended to divide the property of the parties equally, treating the property Robert- had surreptitiously given to his children as though it were still marital property, and allocating it to Robert. Robert does not object to so treating this property, and the majority opinion has approved of it. Therefore this property division should be considered as one in which the assets of the parties were divided substantially equally. An equal division of marital assets is presumptively just. Jones v. Jones, 666 P.2d 1031, 1034 (Alaska 1983); Wanberg v. Wanberg, 664 P.2d 568, 574-75 (Alaska 1983).
We suggested in Wanberg that the factors first set forth in Merrill v. Merrill, *1236368 P.2d 546, 647-48 n. 4 (Alaska 1962) could be most appropriately utilized if trial courts would use an equal division as a starting point and review the factors to determine whether they required a deviation from equality:
The Merrill criteria will be of increased usefulness to a trial court in its determination of an equitable division of property if the court begins its consideration of the Merrill factors with the presumption that the most equitable division of the property is an equal division. This starting point is intended to provide a grounding point by which the relevance of the Merrill factors may be determined.
Id. at 574-575.
Here, in the sense explained above, the trial judge made an equal division, but the record does not reflect that he reviewed the Merrill factors to determine whether some adjustment was necessary in order to achieve justice. For this reason I join in the court’s opinion remanding this case for additional findings as to those of the Merrill factors which are arguably relevant. In reaching this conclusion I do not wish to suggest any view on the merits of the ultimate question, which is whether the property division reached is just.