Court Opinion

ID: 9507973
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 21:26:48.787929+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:07:26.255254
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE SHEEHY,
dissenting:
I dissent. The division of marital assets, awarding $56,362.00 to the wife, and $265,678.00 to the husband is grossly unjust on its face. It is especially unjust in this case. The Teacher’s Retirement Pension which constitutes the sole marital asset given to the wife was completely earned by the wife, through her own efforts. The portion of the marital estate awarded to the husband was preserved by the wife because she contributed all of her earnings during her marriage to the upkeep of the ranch which the husband now gets to keep in toto. I see this distribution as a flagrant abuse of discretion.
The excuse offered both by the District Court and this Court to sustain the award to the husband is that he can now go on operating *346his money losing venture, the ranch. One senses an unspoken hope both in the District Court and in this Court that the husband in fact will go broke by continuing to operate the ranch.
It would make more economic sense, and be in accord with justice, to require the sale of the ranch and thereafter to divide the proceeds between the parties, taking into account the Teacher’s Retirement Pension. Instead, this woman, having worked 12½ years for the good of her husband’s estate is told she could work for herself now. I do not see any justice in it.