New Indiana Supreme Court Case - Interest and Property Division
Today the Indiana Supreme Court issued a new divorce case opinion, here. The Court summed up its holding as follows:
Employing an arrangement relatively common to dissolution decrees, the trial court awarded the marital residence to the wife and ordered her to pay husband a share of its value when any one of certain later events occur. Husband argues that the statute on civil judgments entitles him to post-judgment interest running from the date of the dissolution decree. We hold instead that the dissolution statutes authorize a court to assess interest, or not, in the course of fashioning a just division of assets.
Citing another case the Court noted:
We presume that trial courts are aware of the time value of money and take it into consideration when dividing property and deciding whether interest should be awarded.
In other words, interest is not an automatic. You need to get the Court to specifically order interest.
Employing an arrangement relatively common to dissolution decrees, the trial court awarded the marital residence to the wife and ordered her to pay husband a share of its value when any one of certain later events occur. Husband argues that the statute on civil judgments entitles him to post-judgment interest running from the date of the dissolution decree. We hold instead that the dissolution statutes authorize a court to assess interest, or not, in the course of fashioning a just division of assets.
Citing another case the Court noted:
We presume that trial courts are aware of the time value of money and take it into consideration when dividing property and deciding whether interest should be awarded.
In other words, interest is not an automatic. You need to get the Court to specifically order interest.