Roberts v. Roberts, 83-134

• Decision Date: 17 January 1986
• Docket Number: No. 83-134,83-134
• Citation: 505 A.2d 676,146 Vt. 498
• Court: Vermont Supreme Court
• Parties: Agnes Marie Newton ROBERTS v. Wray Edward ROBERTS.

Page 676

505 A.2d 676

146 Vt. 498

Agnes Marie Newton ROBERTS v. Wray Edward ROBERTS.

No. 83-134.

Supreme Court of Vermont.

Jan. 17, 1986.

Candon and Butterfield, Rutland, for defendant-appellant.

Before ALLEN, C.J., and HILL, PECK, GIBSON and HAYES, JJ.

PECK, Justice.

The parties were divorced by order of the Rutland Superior Court on the grounds that they had lived apart for more than six months and the resumption of marital relations was not reasonably probable. 15 V.S.A. § 551(7). The divorce itself is not challenged; the issues raised here by the appeal of defendant, Wray Roberts, relate solely to the court-ordered property settlement. 15 V.S.A. § 751. We affirm.

The defendant contests those portions of the order which awarded the plaintiff, Agnes Roberts, the parties' land and mobile home thereon, a 1981 Chevette, and most of the personal property at the homestead. He also contests the order's requirement to reinstate the plaintiff as beneficiary of his life insurance policy until he fulfilled all his obligations to the plaintiff under the order. He further contests the order's mandate that a snowmobile, an organ, a camper, and a pick-up truck be sold, in that order, to pay off loans on the home and two automobiles.

The defendant claims first that the court granted essentially all the marital property to the plaintiff without sufficient findings to justify this award.

The court found that the parties had been married for nineteen years. It found that the plaintiff spent almost all her money for household necessities, and that the defendant spent a good portion of his income on his own interests, such as guns, model airplanes and snowmobiles. Both the length of the marriage and the relative contributions of the parties are factors the trial court may consider in property disposition upon divorce. 15 V.S.A. § 751(b)(1), (11). The defendant does not contest these findings but argues that they do not justify the court's order.

Trial courts have wide discretion in the disposition of property upon divorce. Atwood v. Atwood, 143 Vt. 298, 300, 465 A.2d 1354, 1355 (1983). Unless the court's discretion was abused, withheld or exercised on untenable grounds or to a clearly unreasonable extent, the decree will not be disturbed. Ruhe v. Ruhe, 142 Vt. 429, 432, 457 A.2d 628, 630 (1983).

We find no abuse of discretion here where the court based its award on the plaintiff's contribution for nineteen years to the acquisition and preservation of the household. "[T]he distribution of property is not an exact science and does not always lend itself to a precise mathematical formula; all that is required is that such distribution be equitable." Victor v. Victor, 142 Vt. 126, 130, 453 A.2d 1115, 1117 (1982). Reviewing the record, we find that the property disposition was equitable. The record supports the findings as to the greater contribution made by the plaintiff. Much of the testimony at the hearing related to the respective merits of the parties, although the court made no finding concerning merit. The trial court, however, did award custody of the parties' then minor child to the plaintiff. The desirability of awarding the home to the custodial parent is one factor trial courts may consider in making property settlements upon divorce. 15 V.S.A. § 751(b)(9). In sum, the length of the marriage, the contribution of the parties, and the award of...