Eric Wayne Barton v. Mechelle Schlomer Barton

In this appeal arising out of the parties’ divorce, the Husband raises issues pertaining to the court’s classification, valuation, and division of the marital estate, as well as the court’s award of attorney’s fees to Wife. Upon our review, we vacate those parts of the judgment that awarded a lien on real property belonging to LLCs in which Husband had 100 percent ownership interest as well as an award to Wife of an interest in a contingent contractual claim against the United States Government that is an asset of an LLC in which Husband had 100 percent ownership interest. Additionally, in light of this Court’s determination that the contractual claim is an asset of an LLC owned 100 percent by Husband, we conclude that the record requires the court to reconsider the valuation of the parties’ business interests in the LLC that has the contractual claim. Although the trial court must necessarily consider the impact that the contractual claim has on the parties’ net marital business interests, we note that the court’s current calculations, which are divorced from a proper consideration of the impact of the contractual claim, overvalued the net marital business interests based upon its own findings. In light of the fact that the case is being remanded for further consideration of the valuation of the parties’ net marital business interests, we also vacate the trial court’s equitable division of the estate and its award of attorney’s fees to Wife and remand for further consideration. We also decline to award Wife her attorney’s fees on appeal. The balance of the judgment is affirmed.