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Domestic Relations – Equitable Distribution – Distributional Factors – Inheritance
On remand from a prior appeal, this court instructed the trial court to make findings of fact regarding the defendant-wife’s inheritance from her father. The trial court erred in its reconsideration of the post-separation inheritance – a distributional factor – by considering it in relation to other distributional factor instead of whether the inheritance would […]
Domestic Relations – Equitable Distribution – Classification & Valuation – Partnership
Tax returns indicated that the defendant-husband had a 60-40 partnership with his father and that he took no post-separation capital distributions; however, the trial court could believe the husband’s testimony that the partnership was actually 50-50, and the court should have taken into account evidence of post-separation capital distributions. The trial court’s equitable distribution order [[...]
Domestic Relations – Equitable Distribution – Classification – 529 Savings Plan – First Impression
Our state’s 529 Savings Plan criteria say that plan participants “retain[] ownership and control over the Account,” and that their children, as the account beneficiaries, have “no control over any of the Account assets.” The court rejects the defendant-wife’s argument that the 529 Savings Plan accounts that the parties set up for their six children […]
Domestic Relations – Equitable Distribution – Post-Separation Debt Payments – 2013 Amendments – Alimony
Since the defendant-husband’s post-separation debt payments on a gleaner combine were made in 2015, they are subject to the 2013 amendments to the equitable distribution statute. Thereunder, post-separation debt payments are only divisible property if they constitute “[p]assive increases and passive decreases in marital debt and financing charges and interest related to marital debt.” G.S. [[...]
Domestic Relations – Equitable Distribution – Subject Matter Jurisdiction – Pre-Separation Complaint
Holding: Even though plaintiff first raised her equitable distribution claim in her complaint for divorce from bed and board – filed before the parties separated – since she raised it again in a verified motion after the parties were separated, the trial court had subject matter jurisdiction over plaintiff’s equitable distribution claim. We affirm the […]
Domestic Relations – Equitable Distribution – Divisible Property – Statutory Amendment – Interest Payments
Holding: Plaintiff’s post-separation interest-only payments on the parties’ mortgage were payments on “financing charges and interest related to marital debt”; as such, a strict reading of G.S. § 50-20(b)(4)(d)’s plain language reveals them to be divisible payments. We affirm the equitable distribution order that classified plaintiff’s post-separation mortgage payments as divisible pr[...]
Domestic Relations – Equitable Distribution – Distributive Award – Separate Property – Plaintiff’s Corporation & Son
Crowell v. Crowell (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-001-18, 34 pp.) (Wanda Bryant, J.) (Hunter Murphy, J., concurring in part & dissenting in part) Appealed from Mecklenburg County District Court (Christy Mann, J.) N.C. App. Holding: In this equitable distribution action, the trial court could require plaintiff to sell her separate property in order to pay a […]
Domestic Relations – Equitable Distribution – Real & Personal Property
Ellison v. Ellison (Lawyers Weekly No. 012-097-17, 11 pp.) (Wanda Bryant, J.) Appealed from Ashe County District Court (Jennie Houston, J.) N.C. App. Unpub. Holding: Though plaintiff said he did not care about the distribution of household furnishings, the trial court was nevertheless required to list, value and distribute not only household furnishings but also […]
Domestic Relations – Equitable Distribution – Distributive Award – Interest Rate – Ability to Pay – 15-Year Payment Period
Porter v. Porter (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-085-17, 29 pp.) (Donna Stroud, J.) Appealed from New Hanover County District Court (Melinda Crouch, J.) N.C. App. Holding: Although the parties agreed that the plaintiff-husband would be unable to pay the $348,050 distributive award immediately or even within six years, when the trial court set out a 15-year […]
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 […]
Domestic Relations – Equitable Distribution – Military Pension – Changed Circumstances – Seifert Method – Subject Matter Jurisdiction – Alimony
Gurganus v. Gurganus (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-054-17, 14 pp.) (Douglas McCullough, J.) Appealed from Onslow County District Court (William Cameron III, J.) N.C. App. Holding: Despite the defendant-husband’s claims that the plaintiff-wife made post-separation efforts to thwart his advancement in the military and that he made active efforts to advance his military career, these purported […]
Domestic Relations – Equitable Distribution – Distributional Factor – Post-Separation Payments – Classification – Pension – Survivor Annuity
Grennan v. Grennan (Lawyers Weekly No. 012-010-17, 10 pp) (Lucy Inman, J.) Appealed from New Hanover County District Court (Robin Wicks Robinson, J.) N.C. App. Unpub. Holding: Active decreases in marital debt – such as those caused by the defendant-husband’s post-separation payments for taxes, homeowners’ association dues and insurance on the parties’ Mariners Cove property […]
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