Sparks v. Sparks

In Sparks v. Sparks, 440 Mich 141, 159-160; 485 NW2d 893 (1992), the parties had been married for twenty-six years, were in their mid-forties, had one child, and had been regularly employed throughout the marriage. However, while the defendant husband earned his college degree during the marriage, the plaintiff wife ceased her education at age sixteen when she married the defendant husband. The trial court found that the plaintiff wife's sexual infidelity and desire to get out of the marriage caused the breakdown of the marriage, and awarded no alimony and a 75/25 split of marital property. The Court reversed on the issue of alimony but affirmed the division of property. The Supreme Court, in reversing the division of property, noted that, in Michigan, the element of fault survived the no-fault divorce act at least as to the division of property, id., at 157-158, but stated that the trial court "must . . . not assign disproportionate weight to any one circumstance." Id., at 158. Finding that the trial court assigned disproportionate weight to the element of fault, the Court reversed stating that "marital misconduct is only one factor among many and should not be dispositive." Id., at 163. The trial court was assigned to the parties' divorce action and to a divorce action involving the plaintiff's reputed lover, the court had heard the cases within one day of each other, and the defendant's attorney referred several times to the testimony from the other action. Under these circumstances, the Supreme Court held that "the judge may have been influenced by matters discussed in the previous day's proceedings," and that assignment to a different judge on remand would thus be appropriate. Id.