Boyer v. Boyer, 20100359–CA.

• Decision Date: 05 May 2011
• Docket Number: No. 20100359–CA.,20100359–CA.
• Citation: 681 Utah Adv. Rep. 9,259 P.3d 1063,2011 UT App 141
• Parties: Debra BOYER, Petitioner and Appellant,v.Darren BOYER, Respondent and Appellee.
• Court: Utah Court of Appeals

259 P.3d 1063

681 Utah Adv. Rep. 9

2011 UT App 141

Debra BOYER, Petitioner and Appellant,

v.Darren BOYER, Respondent and Appellee.

No. 20100359–CA.

Court of Appeals of Utah.

May 5, 2011.

Kristopher K. Greenwood and Rand G. Lunceford, Ogden, for Appellant.Christina L. Micken, Layton, for Appellee.Before Judges DAVIS, VOROS, and CHRISTIANSEN.

OPINION

DAVIS, Presiding Judge:

¶ 1 Debra Boyer (Wife) appeals the trial court's property distribution and alimony award in her divorce action against Darren Boyer (Husband). We affirm but remand for the trial court to clarify some aspects of the alimony award.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2 Wife and Husband were married on July 10, 1993. During the marriage, Husband had an affair, which may have resulted in Wife contracting a sexually transmitted disease from Husband, requiring her to have a hysterectomy. Wife filed for divorce in March 2007.

¶ 3 During the marriage, Wife worked part time as a bookkeeper, earning $11.50 per hour. The trial court found that Wife was capable of securing “full-time employment at a rate at least equal to her current wage.” The trial court therefore imputed to Wife a $1,993 gross monthly salary and estimated her net monthly income to be $1,594. Husband's income from his work as a stockbroker and financial advisor was disputed. The trial court made detailed factual findings regarding Husband's income and ultimately concluded that his gross income was $110,000 per year, resulting in an estimated net monthly income of $6,600.

¶ 4 The trial court found that Wife had a reasonable monthly need of $4,967 and that Husband had a reasonable monthly need of $5,762. Taking into account Husband's $677 monthly child support obligation, the trial court determined that Wife had an unmet need of $2,696 per month and that Husband had a surplus of $161 per month.¹ The trial court awarded Wife alimony as follows:

To equalize the parties' standard[s] of living, the Court orders [Husband] to pay [Wife] $1,428.00 in alimony each month for a period of five (5) years, commencing on July 1, 2008. Thereafter, the alimony is reduced to $1,000.00 per month on July 1, 2013, for another five (5) years and then the alimony is reduced to $800.00 per month until December 31, 2015, at which time the alimony shall terminate.The trial court later explained that it was “of the opinion that a gradual diminution of alimony is equitable and gives [Wife] incentive along the way to improve her job skills and become increasingly self-sufficient.”

¶ 5 The trial court also found that Husband had a partnership interest in a commercial building in Ogden. The trial court found the net value of Husband's interest to be $20,300 and awarded Husband the entire value of the interest.

¶ 6 The trial court found that the parties had almost $79,000 in marital credit card debt. Because Husband was concerned about how a bankruptcy might affect him professionally, the trial court ordered Husband to pay the entire amount of this debt. Husband was also ordered to pay between $60,000 and $125,000 ² that the parties owed to Husband's brother.

¶ 7 Both parties acquired retirement accounts during the marriage. Wife's was valued at approximately $2,500, and Husband's was valued at approximately $12,500. The trial court awarded both parties their own retirement accounts.

ISSUES AND STANDARDS OF REVIEW

¶ 8 First, Wife objects to the trial court's property division. Specifically, she argues that she should have been awarded half of the parties' partnership interest in the commercial property and that the trial court should have divided the parties' retirement accounts equally between them.

We afford the trial court considerable latitude in adjusting financial and property interests, and its actions are entitled to a presumption of validity. Accordingly, changes will be made in a trial court's property division determination in a divorce action only if there was a misunderstanding or misapplication of the law resulting in substantial and prejudicial error, the evidence clearly preponderated against the findings, or such a serious inequity has resulted as to manifest a clear abuse of discretion.

Davis v. Davis, 2003 UT App 282, ¶ 8, 76 P.3d 716 (internal quotation marks omitted).

¶ 9 Second, Wife challenges the trial court's alimony award on several grounds. Specifically, she argues that (1) the trial court failed to take into account Husband's fault and Wife's health in determining the appropriate amount of alimony and whether to award permanent alimony, (2) the trial court abused its discretion by fashioning a gradually decreasing alimony award, and (3) the trial court's order misstated the alimony termination date and the amount of alimony awarded. “Trial courts have considerable discretion in determining alimony ... and [determinations of alimony] will be upheld on appeal unless a clear and prejudicial abuse of discretion is demonstrated.” Id. ¶ 7 (alteration and omission in original) (internal quotation marks omitted).

ANALYSIS

I. Property Division

¶ 10 In fashioning a divorce decree, trial courts are expected to make “equitable orders relating to ... property, debts or obligations.” Utah Code Ann. § 30–3–5 (Supp. 2010). “The major purpose of a property division ... is to achieve a fair, just, and equitable result between the parties.” Haumont v. Haumont, 793 P.2d 421, 424 (Utah Ct.App.1990) (internal quotation marks omitted). In light of that goal, a trial court attempting to make an equitable property distribution should engage in a four-step process, making findings of fact that are “sufficiently detailed” and that “include enough subsidiary facts to disclose the steps by which the ultimate conclusion on each factual issue was reached.” Stonehocker v. Stonehocker, 2008 UT App 11, ¶¶ 15–16, 176 P.3d 476 (internal quotation marks omitted). First, the trial court should distinguish between separate and marital property; ³ second, it should “consider whether there are exceptional circumstances that overcome the general presumption that marital property [should] be divided equally between the parties”; third, it should “assign values to each item of marital property”; and fourth, it should distribute the property in a manner consistent with its findings and “with a view toward allowing each party to go forward with his or her separate life.” Id. ¶ 15. In carrying out this process, trial courts are not expected to view each item of marital property in isolation and divide each separately. Rather, the trial court is permitted to look at the martial property in its entirety and to apportion it in a manner that best facilitates “a clean break” between the parties and achieves a result that equitably divides the marital property as a whole. See Gardner v. Gardner, 748 P.2d 1076, 1079 (Utah 1988) (holding that the trial court could reapportion its distribution of some items of marital property to offset the award of other items of marital property to a single party); Woodward v. Woodward, 656 P.2d 431, 433 (Utah 1982) (holding that, where possible, division of one spouse's retirement benefits “may best be accomplished” by determining the other spouse's interest in those benefits and then satisfying that spouse's share out of other assets (internal quotation marks omitted)).

¶ 11 Wife's argument incorrectly characterizes the trial court's award of the entire interest in the commercial building and Husband's retirement account to Husband as an unequal distribution of property that must be justified by a specific finding of exceptional circumstances, see Stonehocker, 2008 UT App 11, ¶ 15, 176 P.3d 476. The unequal division of a single piece of marital property does not require a finding of exceptional circumstances where the division of the property as a whole is equitable. It was unnecessary for the trial court to justify its unequal distribution of the retirement accounts and the commercial building where it was apparent that the distribution was more than offset by the unequal division of the parties' considerable debts.⁴ In fact, as the division of the assets and debts as a whole disfavored Husband, it was incumbent upon the trial court to make a finding explaining how exceptional circumstances justified Husband's unequal share, which the trial court did by observing that it made Husband responsible for the debt to decrease the likelihood of a bankruptcy, which could result in adverse professional consequences for Husband. The trial court further explained its rationale in dividing the martial property when it responded to Wife's objections to the proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law:

True, [Husband] received his business value of $20,300 and his retirement of $12,500, compared to [Wife's] retirement of $2,500. However, he is assuming most of the marital debt.... Thus, while there is a disparity in the allocation of their personal property, it pales in comparison to the stress and responsibility, including mounting interest payments, [Husband] assumes to timely discharge the debt. The alternative was to equalize the property and assess [Wife] with a huge debt responsibility that the Court felt she could not and would not discharge.... The Court also felt that these parties needed a clean break from each other without lingering property ownership entanglements.... Thus, everything considered, the property division and debt allocation seems equitable.It is apparent from the record that the trial court carefully considered its ruling regarding the marital property and made meticulous findings in support of its ruling. We see no abuse of discretion in the trial court's decision.

II. Alimony

¶ 12 With respect to the trial court's alimony award, Wife first argues that the trial court erroneously failed to consider Husband's fault in reaching its decision. While the Utah Code permits trial courts to consider fault in awarding alimony, it provides only that the trial court “ may consider the fault of the parties...