Feldhaus v. Schreiner

Summary

The Supreme Court of South Dakota affirmed a divorce court's division awarding 46% of the marital property to Jeanne Feldhaus and 54% to Ronald Schreiner. The court held that adopting proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law from one party did not constitute an abdication of the trial court's responsibility. It also upheld the unequal distribution because the trial court properly considered factors including the parties' ages, health, contributions, earning capacity, and the liquidity and speculative value of Schreiner's retirement benefits.

Holdings

1. A trial court does not abdicate its decision-making responsibility merely by adopting, in whole or in part and even nearly verbatim, proposed findings and conclusions submitted by a party, so long as the court independently exercises its judgment and the findings are supported by the evidence.
2. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by awarding Feldhaus 46 percent and Schreiner 54 percent of the marital property.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court abdicated its decision-making responsibility or otherwise erred by adopting proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law submitted by Schreiner, including after Feldhaus mistakenly submitted Schreiner's proposal.
2. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by awarding Feldhaus 46 percent and Schreiner 54 percent of the marital property rather than dividing the property equally.

Disposition

affirmed