Nold v. Nold, 232 Ariz. 270

Father appeals the family court’s custody order and the allocation of certain assets to Mother.
Family court failed to make specific on-record findings required by A.R.S. § 25-403.B regarding the physical custody decision.
The court vacated awards of the John C. Lincoln 401k, Pioneer IRA, and Ozark life insurance policy to Mother and remanded for equitable division.
Historically, parties shared physical custody 50/50 with a school-year schedule change proposed by the evaluator; trial concerned a substantial change in custody.
Pretrial statements: Father did not list retirement accounts or insurance in his contested issues; Mother listed assets leading to dispute over waiver.
Court remands to perform statutory analysis and prevent delegation of judicial decision-making to the custody evaluator; preserves opportunity for equitable asset reallocation on remand.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the custody decision lacks required § 25-403.B findings	Father contends no statutory findings were made.	Mother asserts findings were implicitly supported by evidence.	Remand for explicit statutory findings required
Whether failure to make § 25-403.B findings constitutes abuse of discretion	Father alleges abuse due to missing findings.	Mother argues no abuse occurred if evidence supports the result.	Yes, remand to supply specific findings for best interests
Whether the property division was waived due to pretrial statement omissions	Father waived claim by not listing assets in pretrial statement.	Mother listed assets; division should reflect equal allocation regardless of waiver.	Waiver cannot bar division; vacate and remand for equitable reallocation
Whether the court improperly delegated custody analysis to a custody evaluator	Father asserts court abdicated independent weighing of evidence.	Mother argues evaluator's report aligned with evidence.	Court abused discretion; remand for independent findings

Reid v. Reid, 222 Ariz. 204 (App. 2009) (no express findings; best interests require record support)
Leathers v. Leathers, 216 Ariz. 374 (App. 2007) (waiver does not automatically bar division of assets listed in evidence)
Owen v. Blackhawk, 206 Ariz. 418 (App. 2003) (change in joint physical custody requires § 25-403.B findings)
Downs v. Scheffler, 206 Ariz. 496 (App. 2003) (failure to make statutory findings can be an abuse of discretion)
Diezsi, 201 Ariz. 524 (App. 2002) (custody decisions require explicit statutory analysis)
Hays v. Gama, 205 Ariz. 99 (Supreme Court 2003) (best interests standard governs child custody cases)
Trantor v. Fredrikson, 179 Ariz. 299 (App. 1994) (waiver generally applicable but not for custody statutory findings)
Banales v. Smith, 200 Ariz. 419 (App. 2001) (failure to object to a missing § 25-403 factor can affect waiver analysis)