Davis and Davis , 325 Or. App. 772 ( 2023 )

772
This is a nonprecedential memorandum opinion
pursuant to ORAP 10.30 and may not be cited
except as provided in ORAP 10.30(1).
Submitted March 16, affirmed May 3, 2023
In the Matter of the Marriage of
Sean Patrick DAVIS,
Petitioner-Respondent,
and
Cynthia DAVIS,
nka Cynthia Stoker,
Respondent-Appellant.
Deschutes County Circuit Court
20DR00281; A177529
Raymond D. Crutchley, Judge.
Robert W. Ickes filed the brief for appellant.
No appearance for respondent.
Before Aoyagi, Presiding Judge, and Joyce, Judge, and
Jacquot, Judge.
JACQUOT, J.
Affirmed.
Nonprecedential Memo Op: 325 Or App 772 (2023) 773
JACQUOT, J.
Wife appeals a general judgment of marital dissolu-
tion, challenging the trial court’s division of real property.
Husband and wife each brought a piece of real property into
the marriage. As relevant here, the trial court awarded each
spouse their respective premarital properties without an
equalizing award for either spouse. In a single assignment
of error, wife contends that the trial court “incorrectly ruled
that [husband’s premarital property, the La Pine property,]
was not comingled and failed to divide the property under
a just and proper analysis.” Specifically, she argues that
the record shows that she contributed “sweat equity” into
improving the property, that she assisted in preparing it to
be rented out and managing it as a rental, that she resided
at the property and maintained it for “significant periods”
before and after separation, and that the mortgage was paid
out of comingled funds. Ultimately, she argues that the court
misapplied ORS 107.105(1)(f) by failing to recognize that the
La Pine property was comingled property. Husband does not
appear on appeal. For the following reasons, we affirm.
Under ORS 107.105(1)(f), which directs the trial
court to divide marital property in a manner that is “just
and proper in all circumstances,” a trial court has the
authority “to distribute any real or personal property that
either or both of the parties hold at the time of dissolution,
including property that the parties had brought into the
marriage.” Kunze and Kunze, 337 Or 122, 133, 92 P3d 100
(2004). If the parties acquired the property at issue before
the marriage—making the property a “premarital asset”—
then the court considers only what is “just and proper in
all the circumstances” in distributing that property. Id.However, determining what is just and proper in a given
dissolution requires the court to take into account equita-
ble considerations, including “the extent to which a party
has integrated a separately acquired asset into the com-
mon financial affairs of the parties through comingling.”
Morrison and Chierichetti, 321 Or App 491, 496, 516 P3d
1196 (2022).
We review the trial court’s division of marital prop-
erty for abuse of discretion. Code and Code, 280 Or App 266,
774 Davis and Davis
271, 380 P3d 1073 (2016). Unless we exercise our authority
to review the facts de novo—which we do not here1—we are
“bound by the trial court’s express and implicit factual find-
ings if they are supported by any evidence in the record.” Id.(internal quotation marks omitted). “The trial court’s ulti-
mate determination as to what property division is ‘just and
proper in all the circumstances’ is a matter of discretion,”
and that discretionary determination will not be disturbed
unless “the trial court misapplied the statutory and equita-
ble considerations that ORS 107.105(1)(f) requires.” Kunze,
337 Or at 136. That is, “[a]bsent an error in methodology
or an outcome outside of the legally permissible range, we
will affirm a trial court’s determination as to what prop-
erty division is just and proper.” Van Winkel and Van Winkel,
289 Or App 805, 810, 412 P3d 243, rev den, 363 Or 224(2018).
Wife’s only argument on appeal is that the trial
court misapplied ORS 107.105(1)(f) because the court failed
to consider the La Pine property comingled in its prop-
erty division. The problem with that argument is that wife
has not shown, nor is it apparent from the record, that the
court considered the La Pine property not to be comingled.
Rather, our understanding is that the court did consider the
property comingled. At the outset, husband’s position was
that the La Pine property was separate property that was
not comingled. However, during closing argument, husband
acknowledged that the bank account from which the mort-
gage was paid was comingled, and he noted that that made
the question of wife’s contribution to the residence—whether
it was comingled—“a little complicated.” He asserted that
the court should not credit wife’s testimony regarding the
amount of sweat equity that she had contributed to the prop-
erty because it was inconsistent with her testimony about
her medical conditions. And he asserted a variety of reasons
that, even if the property was comingled, it would neverthe-
less be just and proper to award it to husband without an
equalizing judgment for wife.
1
We have authority to conduct de novo review in equitable proceedings, ORS
19.415(3)(b), but it is discretionary, and we exercise that discretion only in “excep-
tional cases,” ORAP 5.40(8)(c). Wife does not request de novo review or make an
argument that it is necessary here.
Nonprecedential Memo Op: 325 Or App 772 (2023) 775
Before issuing its oral ruling on the property divi-
sion, the court made specific findings that were inconsis-
tent with husband’s contention that the property was not
comingled, and that wife had not made any substantial con-
tributions to the property. The court found that wife con-
tributed at least some sweat equity towards the La Pine
property, that the parties lived as husband and wife at the
property and rented it out together, that the rental income
went toward their marital home at the time (wife’s premar-
ital property), that both husband and wife contributed some
sweat equity into wife’s premarital property, and that hus-
band used funds from a refinance of the La Pine property
to pay off wife’s credit card debt.2 The court then awarded
each spouse their respective premarital real property, with-
out equalizing awards, and distributed certain pieces of per-
sonal property between them, which included awarding wife
furniture purchased during the marriage with funds from
the refinance of the La Pine property. Thus, as we under-
stand the court’s ruling, the court implicitly determined
that the La Pine property had been comingled but that it
was just and proper in all the circumstances of the case to
award husband the property without an equalizing award
for wife because she received her premarital property and
also received funds from the La Pine property through the
credit card debt payments and furniture.
Beyond challenging the court’s determination regard-
ing comingling, wife makes no argument as to why the
court’s decision was inequitable.3 We will not disturb the
trial court’s ultimate determination as to what overall prop-
erty division is just and proper unless the trial court misap-
plied the statutory and equitable considerations required by
ORS 107.105(1)(f). Morrison, 321 Or App at 495. By implic-
itly considering the La Pine property comingled in dividing
the parties’ marital property, the court applied the correct
methodology under ORS 107.105(1)(f), and wife has not iden-
tified any reason that its property division is not within the
2
The court explicitly found that wife incurred a substantial amount of credit
card debt in husband’s name, without his knowledge, which husband used funds
from refinancing the La Pine property to pay off.
3
Wife does not address the relative values of the properties, whether they
have mortgages, or any other considerations in arguing that the court erred.
776 Davis and Davis
range of legally permissible outcomes allowed by the stat-
ute. We therefore affirm the court’s property division.
Affirmed.