Court Opinion

ID: 9721818
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 09:10:17.689952+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:28.785969
License: Public Domain

HENDERSON, Justice
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I do not agree with the majority’s decision to uphold the trial court’s distribution of the marital property.
The parties were married in August of 1973. In May of 1976, defendant inherited $60,000 from his mother’s estate. This money was used to purchase a farm upon which the parties resided commencing in July of 1976. Plaintiff left the farm in March of 1978 when the parties initially separated and has since lived and worked in Sioux Falls. During the twenty months she did live on the farm, plaintiff also worked in Sioux Falls. The trial court awarded plaintiff $21,200 property settlement based upon her contribution to the farm.
In Clement v. Clement, 292 N.W.2d 799 (S.D.1980), we held that the value of the property inherited by the husband from his father approximately eight years prior to the parties’ divorce was properly included as a marital asset and subject to an equitable division. Clement involved a marriage of thirty-two years, during which time the wife worked outside the home for twenty-three years, both full and part-time. During the last eleven years of the marriage she worked full-time, excepting a year and a half. The trial court determined that she was entitled to one-half of the net value of the inherited property.
Here, the facts involved do not indicate that plaintiff’s contribution to the acquisition of the farm was significant enough to justify the trial court’s award of a $21,200 lien on the farm. This appears to be an inconsistent approach to the division of assets. Cf. Cooper v. Cooper, 299 N.W.2d 798 (S.D.1980); Andera v. Andera, 277 N.W.2d 725 (S.D.1979). In Andera, this Court said: “The land was in the nature of a gift from the mother to the son, and there was no contribution of any significance by appellant [wife] in acquiring the land.” Id. at 728. The same result should pertain to this case. This was a marriage of short duration. It was less than two years from the receipt of inheritance to the date of separation. Plaintiff’s contribution to the farm had to be insignificant; she could not have held down a full-time job in a store in Sioux Falls and simultaneously been a full-time farm wife. The parties are both middle-aged, in good health, and have comparable incomes from employment in Sioux Falls. The $20,000 plaintiff put into this marriage was depleted by the ordinary living expenses of herself and her two children by a previous marriage. She is not entitled to a lien on his inheritance-penny for penny-of her total amount of earnings over the last two years. The defendant had indebtedness due, including taxes and a farm mortgage payment in the amount of $25,124. Plaintiff had separate indebtedness totalling approximately $360. No provision whatsoever was made by the trial court’s judgment for the payment of these debts.
It is true that in the division of marital property the trial court has broad discretion in making such division and granting such award. SDCL 25-4-4; Fink v. Fink, 296 N.W.2d 916 (S.D.1980); Hansen v. Hansen, 273 N.W.2d 749 (S.D.1979). That discretion, however, is a judicial discretion, not an uncontrolled one, and its exercise must have a sound and substantial basis in the evidence. I believe that the trial court abused its discretion in granting plaintiff a $21,200 lien on the farm which defendant inherited from his mother’s estate.