Colton and Colton

Under ORAP 5.45(1), "except for discretionary plain error review . . . appellate court will not consider claim of error that was not preserved in lower court."

Husband appealed from the trial court's general judgment which dissolved the parties' long-term marriage, distributed their assets and debts, awarded Wife both spousal support and child support for one child, and awarded child support directly to a second child who was attending school. Husband assigned error to the trial court's determination to use his business' entire income stream to calculate the monthly support awarded to Wife, even though the value of the business was distributed between both parties. On appeal, Husband argued the calculation of his monthly income from his business should have been mitigated by the $14,000 he pays per month on loans and leases. Additionally, Husband argued the trial court's award of spousal support to Wife was unjust and inequitable because half of the business' value was given to Wife. In response, Wife argued Husband’s arguments were not valid on appeal because he failed to preserve them at trial. Under ORAP 5.45(1), "except for discretionary plain error review . . . appellate court will not consider claim of error that was not preserved in lower court." The Court concluded that the arguments made on appeal by Husband were not raised in his opening brief, or at the subsequent hearing, and therefore were not preserved for appeal. Due to Husband's failure to preserve his argument, the Court held that the trial court’s calculation of Husband’s income was not reviewable on appeal.

Affirmed.