Nevada family-law case summaries

Melissa and Paco Horta married in October 2012 and have three minor children. About a decade before the marriage, Paco's father gave him a landscaping business called Silver Lands, Inc. Paco earned a salary from the business and also took money out as company profits. Paco filed for divorce in May 2021, and while the case was pending the district court ordered him to pay temporary spousal support, temporary child support, and some of Melissa's attorney and expert fees. After a trial, the district court issued a divorce decree. It calculated Paco's monthly income, imputed (assigned) an income of $100,000 per year to Melissa based on her earning capacity, awarded her alimony of $3,000 per month for five years and child support of $3,474 per month, and divided the couple's community property. Because of the way it divided property, the court ordered Paco to pay Melissa an "equalization payment" of about $738,000 in monthly installments over ten years. The court declined to award either party additional attorney or expert fees. On appeal, Melissa raised many arguments: that the court miscalculated Paco's income by leaving out a $461,000 "shareholder loan" he took from the business; that the court should not have assumed she could earn $100,000; that it should have awarded more child support and back child support; that Paco wasted $476,000 of marital money on a failed Reno property investment; that she deserved attorney and expert fees; and several other points about parenting time, the family therapist, keeping discovery open on the marital home, and interest on the equalization payment. Paco, in his cross-appeal, argued the court miscalculated the community's interest in Silver Lands. The Court of Appeals rejected almost all of these arguments, finding that the district court acted within its discretion and that its findings were supported by the evidence. On most points, the appeals court explained that it does not re-weigh conflicting evidence or re-judge which witnesses were more believable - that is the trial court's job. The appeals court agreed with Melissa on one narrow point. While the trial court properly found that Melissa had not proven Paco "wasted" the $476,000 Reno investment, the trial court never made findings about whether any of that money still existed. Paco testified he got no return on the investment, but also said the investment home was eventually sold, though he could not recall the sale price. Because some or all of the money might still exist, the appeals court sent the case back (remanded) so the trial court can determine whether any funds remain and, if so, divide them. The court affirmed everything else in the decree.