Court Opinion

ID: 9702021
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 22:49:55.537784+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:32.371361
License: Public Domain

BECK, Judge,
dissenting:
I join in that portion of the majority opinion which affirms the trial court’s treatment of the husband-appellee’s pension.
I agree with the majority that the trial court’s characterization of payments to the wife as alimony is incorrect. In light of the facts of this case and the trial court’s stated reasons for entry of the award, the trial court’s order should more properly have been designated equitable reimbursement rather than alimony. See Wagoner v. Wagoner, 538 Pa. 265, 648 A.2d 299 (1994); Zullo v. Zullo, 531 Pa. 377, 613 A.2d 544 (1992); Bold v. Bold, 524 Pa. 487, 574 A.2d 552 (1990). Unlike the majority, however, I would not remand, but would affirm the payments to the wife and designate them as equitable reimbursement.
The majority’s holding that the payments to the wife are not alimony makes the majority’s discussion of wife’s lack of entitlement to alimony unnecessary and dicta. I therefore do not join in that portion of the majority opinion.
Further, I would affirm the portion of the trial court’s order awarding appellant one-half of the value to be assigned by the junkyard to the parties’ automobile. Appellant’s argument goes to the valuation of the automobile, not to the apportion*101ment of its value. The trial court found that both parties had acted unreasonably in connection with the disposition of this asset, and thus that both parties had contributed to its ultimate waste. This finding is supported by the record, and I thus cannot conclude that the trial court abused its discretion by using the reduced junk value of the automobile rather than the market value assigned by the master, or in dividing that value equally between the parties. Moreover, appellant did not request an award of the entire value of the automobile in compensation for other assets wasted by appellee. In the absence of either an abuse of discretion in the findings of fact upon which the trial court’s order was based or an argument by appellant that the order was improper in light of the overall property distribution scheme, I can see no basis for disturbing the trial court’s order.
Accordingly, I would direct the trial court to redesignate its alimony order as an order for equitable reimbursement. In all other respects, I would affirm the order of the trial court.