## Facts

- David Polacheck (Husband) and Amy Polacheck (Wife) married and had children.
- Throughout much of the marriage, Husband earned a six-figure income and served as the primary wage earner.
- Wife primarily stayed home to care for the children and manage the household.
- During the marriage, Wife attended nursing school and incurred about $40,000 in student-loan debt.
- Wife completed her nursing degree near the end of the marriage and obtained employment earning about $58,000 per year.
- Husband filed for divorce shortly after Wife obtained her degree and employment.
- In the divorce proceedings, the parties agreed the student-loan obligation was marital debt but disputed how it should be divided.
- The trial court allocated the entire student-loan debt to Wife and did not provide Wife with any offsetting distribution of property for taking on that obligation.
- The trial court’s stated reason for assigning the entire debt to Wife was that Wife alone would benefit from the nursing degree.
- Wife appealed the student-loan allocation.

## Issues

1. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by assigning all marital student-loan debt to Wife based primarily on the view that she alone would benefit from the degree, without an equitable analysis supported by the record.

## Decision

- The appellate court reversed the portion of the divorce decree allocating the entire student-loan debt to Wife.
- The court remanded the case for the trial court to reallocate the marital student-loan debt in an equitable manner consistent with Ohio domestic-relations law.

## Legal Principles

- Marital debt incurred during the marriage, including student loans used for education during the marriage, is subject to equitable division in divorce.
- A trial court has discretion to divide marital property and debt, but it must exercise that discretion through a reasoned equitable analysis that can be reviewed on appeal.
- Assigning an educational debt solely because one spouse will hold the degree after divorce is not, by itself, a sufficient basis to allocate all of that marital debt to that spouse.
- An equitable debt division may consider the parties’ relative incomes, earning capacities, the family’s benefit from the education during the marriage, and each party’s ability to pay, along with the overall property division.

## Conclusion

Because the student loans were incurred during the marriage and treated as marital debt, the trial court could not assign the entire balance to Wife solely on the ground that she would benefit from her nursing degree; the appellate court reversed that allocation and remanded for an equitable division supported by an explained analysis.


Polacheck v. Polacheck, 5 N.E.3d 1088 (2013)