Carmichael v. Carmichael, 2012 Ohio 5811

Barbara Carmichael filed for divorce after 26 years of marriage; house lived in during marriage was Mr. Carmichael’s separate property.
Magistrate awarded the house to Mrs. Carmichael and explained factors for the distributive award.
Trial court entered a divorce decree the same day; objections to the magistrate’s decision were filed and overruled in a brief journal entry.
Trial court awarded the marital residence to Mrs. Carmichael without written findings of fact as required by R.C. 3105.171(D).
Mr. Carmichael appealed raising multiple assignments of error regarding property division and spousal support.
This court reverses the trial court’s property division and remands for proceedings consistent with this opinion; spousal support is reversed for the related reason.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court properly awarded Mr. Carmichael’s separate property to Mrs. Carmichael	Carmichael argues improper distributive award without required written findings.	Carmichael contends the distributive award is permissible under statute and appropriate.	Reversed; lack of 3105.171(D) findings requires remand.
Whether the spousal-support award is proper after property division	Award should stand if supported by factors post-division.	Award should be reversed because property division is flawed and affects support analysis.	Reversed; spousal support must be reconsidered after proper division.
Whether the objections to the Magistrate’s Decision require Civ.R. 53 findings	Objections were not properly ruled with findings of fact and conclusions of law.	Issue moot if first two errors resolved.	Moot; not addressed due to disposition of other errors.

Zona v. Zona, 2005-Ohio-5194 (9th Dist. No. 05CA0007-M (Ohio 2005)) (property division followed by post-division support considerations)
Boyer v. Boyer, 2011-Ohio-989 (12th Dist. Nos. CA2010–04–083, CA2010–05–109 (Ohio 2011)) (remand guidance after improper distributive award)