Purvis v. Purvis

867 S.E.2d 700 (2021)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

On September 24, 1988, H and W were married. The parties separated on February 25, 2017. While the parties were married, they shared one joint bank account. The parties had a daughter who attended Sweet Briar College from 2009 until 2013. The parties' daughter acquired several student loans in her name, and H acquired student loans in his name. The loans H acquired were administered through Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, Inc, and used by the parties' daughter for tuition, books, and living expenses. H contends that, although the Great Lakes loans were incurred in his sole name, the parties made a joint decision in acquiring the loans in question. The parties decided the Great Lakes loans would be in H's name only due to a discrepancy in the parties' credit scores. At some point, W's mother co-signed loan documents for one of the Great Lakes loans. The outstanding debt of the Great Lakes loans was $164,163.00 on the date of separation in 2017. The parties had used their joint bank account to make the payments on the Great Lakes loan. On August 5, 2019, W filed a motion for summary judgment, seeking a declaration that the Great Lakes loans were separate, rather than marital, property. The trial court found 'there is no genuine issue of material fact to be resolved . . . and that partial summary judgment should be instead entered in favor of . . . M declaring that the Great Lakes Student Loan . . . is marital property as a matter of law.' M was assigned 75% of the outstanding balance of the loans, and W was assigned 25% of the outstanding balance of the loans. W appealed. W contends the trial court erred in classifying the Great Lakes loans as marital property.