In re Muller, 164 N.H. 512

Gabrielle Muller and William Muller married in Oct 2006 and have one child; home purchased Nov 2006 with $200,000 mortgage loan and $186,332.23 cash from Husband’s parents; home titled in Husband’s name; trial valued home at $340,000.
Dispute over whether the $186,332.23 from Husband’s parents was a loan or a gift; promissory note later executed by Husband in 2009 and undated mortgage deed signed only by Husband; Wife alleged gift and questioned credibility of Husband’s representations.
August–September 2009: Wife filed for divorce; Husband was terminated from employment in Aug 2009 and remained unemployed through trial.
Trial court awarded fault-based divorce, equitably divided marital debt and ordered sale of the home with net equity split evenly; court found the gifts/debt not credible and held the parents’ contribution not a debt.
Trial court concluded Husband was unemployed and imputed $68,000 annual income for child support; court held third-party mortgage invalid for purposes of debt and equity division.
Husband appealed arguing lack of jurisdiction to invalidate third-party interest, improper equity division, and erroneous income imputation; court vacated sale/distribution due to lack of jurisdiction over third-party interest and remanded; affirmed in part and vacated in part on other issues.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
jurisdiction to invalidate third-party mortgage/note	Muller argues family division lacked power to invalidate parents’ mortgage/note	Muller contends trial court acted within its jurisdiction to resolve marital assets	Vacated sale and remanded; jurisdiction to determine third-party interest resides in superior court
validity of third-party interest affecting equity division	Gift characterization should not erase third-party interest	Court treated as gift and disregarded debt	Remand required; family division cannot disregard third-party interest when dividing equity
equitable division of marital home while encumbered	Equity should be divided despite encumbrance	Division inappropriate if third-party interest invalidated	Remanded; authority to divide must account for exclusive superior court jurisdiction over third-party claim
voluntary unemployment and income imputation	Imputation of $68,000 to Husband unsupported	Record supports voluntary unemployment and imputation; Wife not imputed	Affirmed; imputation sustained; Husband deemed voluntarily unemployed and earning $68,000
income imputation symmetry (Husband vs Wife)	Wife unemployed but not imputed	Court found Wife primary caregiver and anticipated employment	Upheld; no error in imputing only Husband’s income

In re Skorich, 332 B.R. 77 (Bankr. D.N.H. 2005) (equitable interests do not override creditors during divorce)
In the Matter of Jasper-O’Neil & O’Neil, 149 N.H. 87 (2003) (bank’s pre-divorce attachment can affect property disposition)
Daine v. Daine, 157 N.H. 426 (2008) (family division jurisdiction limited; requires statute-based authority)
In the Matter of O’Neil & O’Neil, 159 N.H. 615 (2010) (jurisdictional review of family division relating to divorce matters)
In the Matter of Beal & Beal, 153 N.H. 349 (2006) (divorce property distribution authority; cannot order creditor payments from marital assets)
In the Matter of Costa & Costa, 156 N.H. 323 (2007) (family division can divide net equity and debt in encumbered assets)
In the Matter of Mallett & Mallett, 163 N.H. 202 (2012) (statutory framework governs division of marital property)
In re Estate of O’Dwyer, 135 N.H. 323 (1992) ( Probate context recognized limits of non-probate real property jurisdiction)
In re Estate of Porter, 159 N.H. 212 (2009) (Omnibus Justice Act expanded probate jurisdiction over decedent real estate)