Vetter v. Vetter

Summary

The North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed a divorce judgment awarding Michelle Vetter primary residential responsibility for the parties’ child and dividing the marital assets and debts. The court held that the district court’s findings concerning best-interest factors, domestic violence, and the property division were not clearly erroneous.

Holdings

1. The district court did not clearly err in awarding Michelle Vetter primary residential responsibility of the parties' minor child.
2. The child-abuse conviction did not, by itself, trigger the rebuttable presumption against awarding Michelle residential responsibility because the conviction did not necessarily establish serious bodily injury, although the conviction constituted evidence of domestic violence that the court was required to consider.
3. The district court did not clearly err or act inequitably by awarding the parties unequal percentages of the marital estate and ordering Kyle Vetter to make a $135,294.57 equalization payment.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the district court's findings under N.D.C.C. § 14-09-06.2(1)(c), (d), (e), and (j) were clearly erroneous in awarding Michelle Vetter primary residential responsibility.
2. Whether Michelle Vetter's child-abuse conviction triggered the rebuttable presumption against awarding her residential responsibility under N.D.C.C. § 14-09-06.2(1)(j).
3. Whether the district court's division of the marital estate and equalization payment were inequitable or clearly erroneous.

Disposition

affirmed