SHANNON POOLER PLAINTIFF RESPONDENT v. DENNY POOLER DEFENDANT APPELLANT (2017)

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

It is hereby ORDERED that the order so appealed from is unanimously modified on the law by determining that the debt owed on the Discover Card account is the separate debt of plaintiff and is not marital debt, and as modified the order is affirmed without costs.

Memorandum:  In this postdivorce proceeding, defendant husband appeals from an order that, inter alia, determined that the debt owed on a Discover Card account is marital debt and equitably distributed that debt between the parties.  “[T]he initial determination of whether a particular asset is marital or separate property is a question of law, subject to plenary review on appeal” (Fields v. Fields, 15 NY3d 158, 161 [internal quotation marks omitted] ).  Here, Supreme Court erroneously classified the Discover Card account as marital debt subject to equitable distribution inasmuch as plaintiff wife asserted in her net worth statement that the Discover Card debt belonged to her alone (see generally Koch v. Koch, 134 A.D.2d 574, 574;  Jolis v. Jolis, 98 A.D.2d 692, 692–693).  We therefore modify the order accordingly.  We reject defendant's remaining contentions for reasons stated in the decision at Supreme Court.

Mark W. Bennett

Clerk of the Court