Cashman v. Robertson
Cashman v. Robertson
Opinion of the Court
[¶1] Jaison W. (Hashey) Robertson appeals from a judgment of divorce entered by the District Court (Belfast, Worth, J. ). Jaison contends that the court erred by adopting Danielle N. (Hashey) Cashman's proposed judgment and erred in its classification of marital property and the determination of his income. We affirm the judgment.
I. INDEPENDENCE OF THE JUDGMENT
[¶2] We begin by addressing Jaison's challenge to the legitimacy of the court's judgment. He argues that the court erred in adopting Danielle's proposed judgement without exercising its independent judgment.
*1171[¶3] "[A] trial court's verbatim adoption of findings or orders proposed by one party in a case is disfavored, as such an approach suggests that the court has not carefully reviewed the evidence or applied its independent judgment in making its findings and conclusions." Yap v. Vinton ,
[¶4] Contrary to Jaison's argument that the court improperly adopted Danielle's proposed judgment verbatim, the divorce order, when read in its entirety, reflects the fair and independent judgment of the court. See
II. BACKGROUND
[¶5] The following facts, which are supported by the evidence, are drawn from the divorce judgment. See Sullivan v. George ,
[¶6] Danielle and Jaison were married in Maine on September 13, 2003, and separated in July 2016. The parties' two minor daughters reside with Danielle, who has always been their primary caretaker. For much of their marriage, Jaison behaved violently toward Danielle and "intentionally exposed the children to his angry and threatening style." Both children have expressed hesitation and fear about visiting with him because of his frequent angry outbursts.
[¶7] Both parties have six-figure incomes. Danielle earns approximately $144,000 per year and pays for the family's health insurance and childcare expenses. Jaison owns and operates a construction business that generated gross revenues of $492,453 in 2016. Although Jaison maintains that in 2016 he had no personal income and suffered a loss of $6,328, the court determined, based on information he *1172provided in two loan applications, his business practices, and his lifestyle choices, that his net personal income was actually $150,000 that year.
[¶8] The parties own a marital home in Swanville, Maine, with a mortgage of $143,000 and an additional home equity line of credit of $7,600. The District Court (Belfast, Worth, J. ) awarded the home to Danielle, but ordered that the home be sold. Danielle spent approximately $42,000 to prepare the home for sale and is responsible for the costs of maintaining the home until it is sold.
[¶9] During the pendency of the divorce, Jaison purchased a camp in Orrington, Maine, worth $74,900, from his father. While no evidence of a deed or payment was presented at trial, evidence of Jaison's social media posts announcing his purchase of the property, his interrogatory responses listing the Orrington address as one of his residences, and his efforts to make improvements to the land, including obtaining a demolition permit, was admitted. The court ultimately concluded that the camp was a marital asset and awarded it to Jaison.
[¶10] The court divided the couple's household effects based on the parties' respective possession of those items at the time of trial. In addition, Danielle and Jaison each retained their own bank accounts, credit card debt, and business/retirement accounts. In total, Danielle was awarded property worth $60,000, including her 401(k),
III. DISCUSSION
[¶11] Jaison primarily argues that the court erred in determining that both the motorcycle and the family camp were marital property, and that his income was $150,000 in 2016.
A. Marital Property
[¶12] We review the District Court's findings of fact as to whether property is marital for clear error. Bonville v. Bonville ,
B. Determination of Income
[¶13] "A court's determination of a party's income in a divorce proceeding is a factual finding that we review for clear error." Payne v. Payne ,
[¶14] Contrary to Jaison's arguments, the court's order clearly reflects its independent judgment and is fully supported by competent evidence in the record. The court did not err in its characterization of the parties' relationship, nor did it abuse its discretion in its classification and division of marital property. The court is best situated to evaluate the credibility of the parties' testimony and the weight of the evidence introduced at trial, and did so without error in this case.
*1174The entry is:
Judgment affirmed.
Jaison's violence has been primarily directed at Danielle. He has threatened to smash her truck and take the children away. He has thrown items-including knives-in the home, struck Danielle with a gallon-size bottle of water, pointed a gun at her, and threatened her life while he was intoxicated. On June 22, 2017, after receiving angry threats from Jaison, Danielle fled the marital home with the children. When she returned two days later to gather clothing for herself and the children, she discovered that Jaison had thrown most of her belongings in a dumpster outside the residence and doused them in gasoline.
Danielle's 401(k) has a face value of approximately $97,000 and a net value of $57, 219. She borrowed $10,000 from the principal of her 401(k) to lend to Jaison, $20,000 to make repairs on the home, and $10,000 to replace the items Jaison destroyed.
This property included a 2017 Victory motorcycle, worth $10,000, at issue in this case. Although Jaison and his girlfriend testified that the motorcycle was a birthday gift from her to him, the court concluded that the motorcycle was marital property because Jaison asked Danielle for a $10,000 loan within a week of obtaining the motorcycle and "more likely than not" used that money to repay his girlfriend for the purchase of the motorcycle, and because Jaison did not identify the motorcycle as nonmarital property on his financial statements.
As to the camp, for example, the court explicitly found that Jaison's "testimony that he has not purchased the property was not believable."
Although the court stated that it "assigns and imputes an income" to Jaison, it actually made a factual finding, based on a reasonable extrapolation from the evidence, that his income was $150,000, an amount substantially higher than his claimed $6,000 loss. In general, "[i]f a divorce court finds that a party is voluntarily underemployed, the court may impute income to that party for the purpose of calculating that party's child or spousal support obligations." Ehret v. Ehret ,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Danielle N. (Hashey) CASHMAN v. Jaison W. (Hashey) ROBERTSON
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published