Calvin Evans Jr. wanted out of a $166,698.50 debt. He argued the money was owed because he expected to inherit his father’s Washington ranch, a property that never reached his hands. The Washington Court of Appeals, Division One, said no. On November 2, 2026, the panel upheld two divorce judgments against Evans, concluding his request to undo them arrived far too late.
The story begins in 2011, when Evans and his then-wife, Deborah Bunney, dissolved their marriage. The court awarded Bunney the full $174,000 the couple had invested in ranch improvements. The logic was simple: Evans was set to inherit the land from his father, so he would retain significant equity. The decree split the debt into two chunks—$162,190.50 and $4,508—but tied the ranch’s fate to that inheritance. It never happened. Evans’s siblings filed a petition under Washington’s Trust and Estate Disputed Resolution Act, alleging financial abuse. A May 31, 2012 ruling confirmed Evans had financially abused his father. The ranch passed to Evans’s four adult children, not to him.
Evans tried to fix the mess in 2017, asking the dissolution court to vacate the judgments. The judge denied the motion, citing missing information about Bunney’s separate lawsuit against the estate. That lawsuit failed in March 2019. Evans knew this. He had the facts he needed by then. Yet he waited until April 2025 to file another motion for relief. The appeals court noted this six-year gap as a critical factor in rejecting his claim. "The loss of the inheritance was not an extraordinary circumstance justifying relief," the court stated.
The debt has not gone away. In July 2021, Bunney secured a 10-year extension on the judgments. A partition court ordered the ranch sold in late 2024 because it could not be divided. Evans made zero payments on the principal. Interest now accrues at 12 percent per year. Bunney holds a charging lien on any sale proceeds attributed to Evans’s interest. Evans, who holds a 50 percent stake through his company Hidden River Ranch LLC, faces a growing bill with no end in sight.