Domestic Relations – Equitable Distribution – Divisible Property – Marital Home – Date of Distribution

Lund v. Lund (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-083-17, 9 pp.) (John Tyson, J.) Appealed from Buncombe County District Court (Ward Scott, J.) N.C. App.

Holding:  Where the only evidence as to the date-of-distribution value of the marital home was the plaintiff-wife’s testimony, and where the trial court found that the wife’s testimony was not credible, the trial court did not abuse its discretion by failing to value and distribute the purported increase in value of the marital home between the dates of separation and distribution.

We affirm the equitable distribution order.

Although the wife’s appraiser dated his opinion of the value of the marital home to approximately four months prior to the equitable distribution trial, apparently the trial court determined that this opinion was too remote in time to be considered a date-of-distribution value. The wife has failed to show that this determination was an abuse of discretion.