Lofgren v. Lofgren, 27244

• Citation: 926 P.2d 296,112 Nev. 1282
• Decision Date: 07 November 1996
• Docket Number: No. 27244,27244
• Parties: Linda LOFGREN, Appellant/Cross-Respondent, v. Benjamin Steven LOFGREN, Respondent/Cross-Appellant.
• Court: Supreme Court of Nevada

Page 296

926 P.2d 296

112 Nev. 1282

Linda LOFGREN, Appellant/Cross-Respondent, v. Benjamin Steven LOFGREN, Respondent/Cross-Appellant.

No. 27244.

Supreme Court of Nevada.

Nov. 7, 1996.

Gubler, Peters & Mark, Las Vegas, for Appellant/Cross-Respondent.

Kurt D. Anderson, Las Vegas, for Respondent/Cross-Appellant.

OPINION

SPRINGER, Justice:

Appellant Linda Lofgren raises several points on appeal which we conclude are meritless. On the other hand, her husband, Benjamin Lofgren, in his cross-appeal, raises significant issues relating to disposition of community property under the 1993 amendment of NRS 125.150. Mr. Lofgren, the husband in this divorce action, claims that the district court erred in making an unequal disposition of community property under NRS 125.150. We conclude that the district court decided correctly; and we affirm its judgment.

In deciding the cross-appeal in this case, we interpret for the first time language in the 1993 amendment to NRS 125.150, which requires that courts "make an equal disposition" of community property rather than the equitable division required prior to 1993. The 1993 amendment to NRS 125.150 requires an equal disposition of community property, unless "the court finds compelling reasons" for not dividing the property equally and "sets forth in writing the reasons for making an unequal disposition."

When the legislature changed property division from equitable to equal, it deleted the equitable factors that formerly had to be applied by the courts in making a "just and equitable" disposition of community property; but, in making these changes, the legislature did not define the "compelling reasons" exception to equal division. As a consequence, trial judges were left to their own devices in deciding what reasons should compel the unequal division of property. Although the trial judge in this case did not undertake to define the term "compelling reasons," as such, he did correctly apply the law to the facts when he ruled, in effect, that the financial misconduct of the husband provided compelling reasons for an unequal division of the community property.

The financial misconduct in this case is found in the husband's having transferred funds to his father and in his having used community funds for his own purposes, all in violation of the court's preliminary injunction. The trial court made a finding that the husband violated the joint preliminary injunction which prohibited the husband from "[t]ransferring, encumbering, concealing, selling or otherwise disposing of" any of the community property of the parties. The trial court further found the husband "wasted and/or secreted most of the $80,000.00 transferred to him" by his "father in order to avoid sharing that money with" his wife. The trial court was justified in making an unequal disposition of community property under these circumstances; and we hold that if community property is lost, expended or destroyed through the intentional misconduct of one spouse, the court may consider such misconduct as a compelling reason for making an unequal disposition of community property and may appropriately augment the other spouse's share of the remaining community property.

The financial misconduct in this case, according to trial court findings, is found in the husband's violation of the restraining order and in his wasting or secreting of community funds. The trial court relied upon two different aspects of the husband's misconduct in adjudicating the unequal disposition.

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