In a related decision, the North Dakota Supreme Court earlier approved a trial decision that awarded custody of the couple’s children to the falsely accused ex-husband. The trial court found the wife’s report of sexual abuse was untrue and nothing more than her attempt to get custody of the parties' children.

The court also found that she lied to the children about her allegations, which alienated the children from their father and may have damaged his relationship with them. The court found her lies were strong evidence of her moral unfitness because the children had to deal with news accounts of their father’s criminal trial and the intrusions of supervised parenting time, and the lies put their father at risk of going to prison.

The North Dakota Supreme Court also approved a significantly unequal division of marital assets in favor of the ex-husband. According to the court, “a party's dissipation of marital assets is an important relevant factor in an equitable distribution of property. [The wife’s] lies dissipated marital assets. It would be inequitable to put on [the husband’s] side of the ledger in the property division any of the marital assets he spent” defending himself from his ex-wife’s false allegations. The court also approved the trial court’s refusal to award the ex-wife any alimony.