In re Committed Intimate Relationship of Campos

In Matter of the Committed Intimate Relationship of GUMERSINDO QUIN CAMPOS, Respondent, and MARIA A. PENA AVILA, Appellant.

No. 79509-1-I

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 1

June 8, 2020

UNPUBLISHED OPINION

SMITH J.

Maria Pena Avila appeals an order distributing property and debts acquired and incurred during a committed intimate relationship (CIR) between Pena and Gumersindo Quin Campos.^[1] She contends that the trial court erred by not dismissing Quin's CIR petition as time barred. She contends further that the trial court's property distribution was not just and equitable and that the trial court erred by denying her motion for reconsideration.

We hold that the trial court did not err by concluding that Quin's CIR petition was timely. With regard to the property distribution, we conclude that the trial court erred by failing to characterize the property and debts at issue before distributing them and by failing to enter sufficient findings. We hold further that the record in this case would not, in any event, have supported findings to sustain the court's ultimate conclusion that its distribution, which awarded Quin all of the assets at issue but ordered Pena to pay all of the debts, was just and equitable. For these reasons, we affirm the trial court's conclusion that Quin's petition was timely, reverse the trial court's property distribution, and remand to the trial court to characterize and distribute the property and debts acquired and incurred during the CIR. On remand, the trial court will conduct further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

FACTS

Quin and Pena began a dating relationship in 2004 and moved into an apartment together in 2005. Some six years later, the couple and Pena's children from an earlier relationship moved into a house in SeaTac. The house had been purchased in Pena's name in 2011, and only Pena's name was on the mortgage. In 2012, Pena became pregnant with the couple's son, J.L.Q.P., who was born in October of that year.

In August 2016, Pena traveled to Mexico with J.L.Q.P. According to Pena's later declaration, when she returned in late September, Quin had changed the locks on the SeaTac house. According to Quin, Pena then "hired an attorney to initiate an unlawful detainer proceeding against [him]."

About a month later, in November 2016, Quin filed a CIR petition.^[2] He alleged that the parties began a CIR on June 28, 2005, and that the CIR ended on August 19, 2016 when "[o]ne of us moved to a separate household." Quin asked the court to approve a parenting plan and a child support order regarding J.L.Q.P. He also asked the court "to assign the [house] as my separate property, and order [Pena] to sign [a] Quit Claim Deed transferring her interest." Quin alleged that "[Pena] sold me her share in the [SeaTac house] in July 2016 for $8, 000, which I pa[id] to her with a check." A check for $8, 000, made payable to Pena and dated July 6, 2016, was later admitted at trial.

In response to Quin's petition, Pena declared that she purchased the SeaTac house and "made the down[ ]payment of $8, 000 entirely from funds [she] had saved up." According to Pena, "[Quin] contributed nothing to the down payment." Pena acknowledged receiving $8, 000 from Quin in July 2016, but declared that it was to repay amounts that she had loaned to Quin and sent to Quin's relatives in Mexico. Pena also declared that after she and Quin moved into the SeaTac house, they divided household expenses equally, as they had while living in an apartment together. Finally, she declared that her relationship with Quin ended in 2012, but she and Quin "continued residing together in the house and dividing expenses equally to save money." In her response to Quin's petition, Pena also raised the statute of limitations as an affirmative defense.

In February 2017, the trial court entered a temporary order in which it ordered that Pena could stay in the SeaTac house and directed Quin to move out by March 10, 2017. The parties later resolved parenting and child support issues under a CR 2A agreement.

A bench trial was held on Quin's CIR petition in November 2018. At the beginning of trial, the court indicated that it would "reserve on the statute-of-limitations question" until after it heard the testimony. At trial, Quin acknowledged that his name was not on the title to the SeaTac house. Nevertheless, according to Quin, he and Pena "split the down payment that we had to make in half." In support of this testimony, Quin introduced two Wells Fargo deposit receipts from September 2011-one for $5 900 and another for $100. Quin testified that these deposits totaling $6, 000, were "the money that [he] gave [Pena] so that she would deposit that amount in her account, and this was for the purposes of the down payment." Pena, by contrast, testified that she never received the $6, 000 shown on the Wells Fargo receipts, that the amount of the down payment was $8, 000, and that she made the entire down payment herself with money she had saved.

Pena testified, with regard to the couple's expenses after they moved into the SeaTac house, that Quin would contribute the monthly mortgage payment- then approximately $1, 275-and Pena "would cover the bills and the food and any other expenses for the house." Quin, by contrast, testified that he contributed to the household expenses "[a]ll the time," including the expenses for two of Pena's children who were not Quin's. And Quin's niece testified that Quin would bring groceries into the house "all the time."

Quin also testified that in 2007, he and his brother, Martin Quin Campos (hereinafter, for clarity, Martin), formed a company Quin Construction, which they owned as equal partners. Quin Construction's 2014 and 2015 tax returns were admitted into evidence and indicated that the company netted $70, 219 in income in 2014, $117, 773 in 2015, and $63, 355 in 2016. Quin reported his 50 percent share of these amounts as his only income on his personal tax returns. Meanwhile, Pena reported $9, 917 in income in 2015.

Pena testified, with regard to Quin Construction, that she sometimes would help Quin at work sites by handing him tools or wood. She also testified that she loaned Quin and Martin $6, 000 to help them when they started the company and that the $8, 000 check she received from Quin in July 2016 was to repay that loan, plus an additional $2, 000 she sent to Quin's family. Meanwhile, Quin testified that there never was any loan. When asked to explain the $8, 000 payment he made to Pena in July 2016, Quin testified, "[S]ince all she cares about is money, she will take whatever it is." Quin also testified that Pena "never" came with him to help him on a construction site but that the company owed a debt to the Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) "because [Pena]'s son was working with [Quin]." According to Martin, the outstanding amount of the L&I debt was $48, 000 at the time of trial.

With regard to the duration of Pena and Quin's relationship Pena's daughter testified that her mother and Quin broke up in August or early September 2012, and Pena testified that she broke up with Quin in July 2012, while she was pregnant with J.L.Q.P. Pena testified that at that time, she and Quin stopped sleeping in the same bed, she moved all of her possessions upstairs, and Quin moved all of his possessions downstairs. Meanwhile, Quin's niece testified that it was not until Quin moved out of the house, in approximately April or May 2017, that she concluded that Pena and Quin were no longer a couple. Quin himself did not provide any testimony with regard to the alleged breakup in 2012 but testified that Pena left the house in August 2016. Quin also testified that after Pena left, he completely renovated the home, including replacing the siding, the roof, the flooring, and remodeling the bathroom and kitchen. He testified that he bought the materials himself, and the trial court admitted a number of hardware store receipts, which Quin testified reflected expenses for renovating the house.

On cross-examination, Quin acknowledged that he left some work unfinished because he was required to leave the house. The trial court entered findings and conclusions and a "Final Dissolution Order" on November 20, 2018. The court found that the parties began a CIR on June 28, 2005, and that the CIR ended on August 19, 2016. The court characterized the SeaTac house as "community property, "^[3] awarded it to Quin as his separate property, and ordered Pena to sign a quit claim deed to transfer the property to Quin by December 15, 2018. The court also awarded to each party the personal property then in that party's possession or control, and ordered each party to pay all debts then in that party's name. With regard to Pena's statute of limitations defense, the court stated, "[Pena] raised the issue of statute of limitations, a three year period, using the year 2012 as the dissolution of the CIR. The court denies this motion by the afore-designated finding [that the CIR ended on August 19, 2016]."

Pena moved for reconsideration. In her motion, she contended that the court's order "distributed the $300, 000 real property in Sea-Tac to [Quin] and the $150, 000 debt for the . . . property to [Pena], which is inequitable." Pena argued that she "should receive a greater than 50% share of the property" based on the income disparity between herself and Quin but that at a minimum, the house and the associated mortgage should have been divided equally. In his response to Pena's motion, Quin asked the court to "assign the family home as [Quin]'s separate property" but "giv[e Pena] her share, fifty percent (50%), of the property's equity based on the recorded value the property had with the King County Assessor's...