Day v. Williams
Annotate this CaseIn this appeal the issue before the Supreme Court was the superior court's valuation and distribution of marital property in the divorce of Carolyn Vieve Day and Charlie T. Williams. Day appealed on three grounds: (1) she contended that the superior court erred when it found her to be employable; (2) that the facts and equities of this case did not support a 50-50 property division; and (3) that the superior court should not have included in the marital estate funds that had already been spent by the date of trial. Upon review, the Supreme Court remanded for additional findings on the superior court's 50-50 property division because the court did not make sufficient findings to explain why an equal distribution was justified in the presence of facts that appear to favor a greater distribution to Day. Furthermore, the Court concluded that it was error for the superior court to include in the marital estate funds that had already been spent by the time of trial. With regard to Williams, he cross-appealed on three grounds: (1) that the superior court erred when it revalued the parties' duplex after divorce; (2) that the court should not have applied the active appreciation theory when valuing the land on which the parties' paint business was situated; and (3) that the court should not have awarded attorney's fees to Day. The Supreme Court agreed with Williams that revaluing the duplex would have been improper, but because it was not clear whether the superior court actually revalued the duplex, the Court vacated the order to sell the duplex and remanded for reconsideration and clarification. Furthermore, the Court held that it was error for the superior court to award Day the duplex without considering whether she would be able to afford to keep or sell the property. As to Williams's remaining two claims, the Court affirmed the superior court's decisions.
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