Court Opinion

ID: 9819480
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 06:26:12.569741+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:27:02.778684
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE WELCH, dissenting: I do not believe that the trial court’s distribution of property was equitable. Petitioner was awarded the parties’ marital home (valued at $83,000), investment accounts (valued over $226,300), and about a third of the remaining marital property (which had a total value of approximately $100,000). This amounts to petitioner receiving nearly 500% more of the property than respondent. I agree with respondent’s arguments that an 84% to 16% split of the property is not equitable. Although I acknowledge that the trial court did not award maintenance and awarded respondent his entire pension, which results in respondent’s annual income being substantially higher than that of petitioner’s, even considering the greater annual income awarded to respondent, I do not believe that an 84% to 16% split of the property is equitable. I believe that this lopsided division of property amounts to an abuse of discretion and that the trial court should have made a better effort to evenly distribute the property such that both parties could begin their new lives as close as possible to the standard of living that each enjoyed during the marriage, even if this requires an award of maintenance. For these reasons, I must respectfully dissent.