Mitchell v. Mitchell, 248 P.3d 65

During marriage, FDIC obtained a judgment against Husband, later assigned to MDI Equity Partners, LLC.
Also during marriage, Husband and Wife jointly obtained the Collins judgment; Husband assigned his interest to MDI in exchange for MDI relinquishing the FDIC judgment.
The 2002 Divorce Decree awarded each party one-half of any proceeds from the Collins judgment.
First Collins payment (~$180,000) was split: attorney fees of 1/3; the remainder allocated as one-half to Husband (via MDI) and one-half to Wife, with Wife sharing a portion with Husband.
The second Collins payment (~$267,000) prompted Wife to withhold paying Husband his share; the trial court determined Wife was entitled to one-third of the total post-fee proceeds, but not net of Husband's obligation to MDI.
Husband appealed, arguing he is entitled to one-half of Wife's one-third share under the Decree; the court affirmed the trial court’s interpretation.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Husband is entitled to one-half of Wife's one-third share of Collins proceeds	Husband, via the Decree, has a standing one-half interest in proceeds regardless of pre-divorce assignment	Decree language assigns only Husband's interest as one-half of total Collins proceeds, not one-half of Wife's one-third; assignment pre-divorce extinguishes his further claim	Decree's plain language controls; Husband not entitled to one-half of Wife's one-third share

Moon v. Moon, 973 P.2d 431 (1999 UT App 12) (contract interpretation of divorce decrees)
Green River Canal Co. v. Thayn, 84 P.3d 1134 (2003 UT 50) (contract interpretation and correctness review)
Glenn v. Reese, 225 P.3d 185 (2009 UT 80) (unambiguous contract language governs meaning)