## Facts

- A husband-physician and his wife divorced in New Mexico district court.
- The court found community debts exceeded the value of the community estate and ordered the husband to pay all community debts.
- The court awarded the wife certain personal property and custody of the parties’ minor child.
- The husband was ordered to pay $100 per month in child support and $100 per month in alimony for six months.
- The wife appealed, arguing the husband’s medical license obtained during marriage was community property because both spouses’ efforts supported his education and training.
- The wife sought an award tied to the husband’s future practice income, requesting 15% of his adjusted gross income from medical practice.

## Issues

1. Whether a professional medical license obtained during marriage is “community property” subject to division (or a basis for awarding the non-licensed spouse a continuing percentage of future professional income).
2. Whether the trial court’s child support and short-term alimony awards were unsupported by substantial evidence and therefore an abuse of discretion.

## Decision

- The judgment was affirmed.
- The court held a medical license is not community property under New Mexico community-property statutes.
- The court rejected the request to treat the license as a divisible asset supporting a continuing claim to a percentage of the physician’s future earnings.
- The court held the child-support and alimony awards were supported by substantial evidence and reflected no abuse of discretion.

## Legal Principles

- Not every legally protected “property right” qualifies as “property” subject to community-property division in divorce.
- A professional license is personal to the holder and generally nontransferable; because it cannot be sold, assigned, or marketed as an asset, it is not community property.
- A spouse’s contributions to the other spouse’s education and earning capacity do not create an ownership interest in a professional license; such contributions may be addressed through division of existing community property and debts and through discretionary support awards.
- Appellate review of alimony and child-support awards is deferential; findings supported by substantial evidence and decisions within the trial court’s discretion will be upheld.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed the divorce decree, holding that a medical license is not a divisible community asset and that the trial court’s limited alimony and child-support awards were supported by substantial evidence and within its discretion.


Muckleroy v. Muckleroy, 498 P.2d 1357 (N.M. 1972)