Joyner v. Joyner
| Decision Date | 03 March 2015 |
| Docket Number | WD77575 |
| Citation | 460 S.W.3d 467 |
| Parties | Jennifer L. Joyner, Appellant, v. Christopher E. Joyner, Respondent. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Randall Barnes, Jefferson City, MO, Counsel for Appellant.
Mary Browning, Jefferson City, MO, Counsel for Respondent.
Before Division Three: Victor C. Howard, P.J., James Edward Welsh, and Gary D. Witt, JJ.
Jennifer Joyner (Wife) appeals the circuit court's judgment dissolving her marriage to Christopher Joyner (Husband). Wife contends that the circuit court erred in its division of the marital property and in its award of maintenance. We reverse the circuit court's judgment.
Husband and Wife were married on May 16, 2006. No children were born during the marriage. In July 2013, after seven years of marriage, Wife filed a petition for dissolution. The circuit court held a hearing on the matter in January 2014, at which the parties presented the following evidence.
Husband is employed by the Jefferson City Police Department as a police officer. He began that employment in November 2005, about six months prior to the couple's marriage. During the marriage, Wife first worked at a retail furniture business and later was employed as an independent insurance agent. In August 2010, Wife was diagnosed with anxiety disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome
, and fibromyalgia. Shortly thereafter, Wife quit selling insurance and began working part time at her brother's business. At the time of trial, Wife was no longer working for her brother and had not worked full time for two to three years. Wife claimed that she was unable to work due to her health problems. She stated that her application for disability benefits was pending with the Social Security Administration. Wife introduced the deposition testimony of George W. Carr, M.D., who testified that Wife's various health issues would limit her ability to hold full-time employment and that, absent substantial improvement, “she should be considered completely and totally disabled.”
During the marriage, the couple acquired certain property including Husband's pension benefit from the Missouri Local Government Employees Retirement Benefits (“LAGERS”), the marital residence, approximately $4,000 in bank accounts, three motor vehicles (valued at $17,000), and household items worth less than $6,000. The evidence at trial showed that ninety-four percent of Husband's LAGERS pension benefit was earned during the marriage. At the time of trial, the marital home had a mortgage of $100,000. The couple had refinanced the house in the summer of 2013, at which time the bank valued the home at $110,000. Husband testified, based on the opinions of two real estate agents, that the value of the property was $92,500.
The circuit court entered its judgment and decree of dissolution on March 6, 2014. The court adopted Husband's proposed distribution of the marital assets and liabilities as fair and equitable. That proposed distribution included a $5,400 “asset equalization” payment from Wife to Husband. The court also accepted Husband's valuation of the marital home as $92,500 and awarded the marital home (and its $100,000 mortgage debt) to Husband. The court found that Husband's proposal for Wife to be awarded all but $200 worth of the personal household items and for Husband to assume the debt on the marital residence resulted in a “disparate treatment of the assets.” For that reason, the court awarded Wife a twenty-five percent share of the marital portion of Husband's LAGERS benefits. The court accepted Husband's valuation of the LAGERS pension as $573 a month and calculated Wife's percentage as $135 a month.1 The court also ordered Husband (1) to pay Wife $450 a month in non-modifiable maintenance for a period of thirty-six months, and (2) to contribute $220 per month toward Wife's health insurance premiums until she becomes eligible for other insurance, not to exceed thirty-six months.
This Court must sustain the judgment in a court-tried case unless there is no substantial evidence to support it, it is against the weight of the evidence, or it erroneously declares or applies the law. Murphy v. Carron, 536 S.W.2d 30, 32 (Mo. banc 1976). “The burden of demonstrating error is on the party challenging the divorce decree.” Hernandez v. Hernandez, 249 S.W.3d 885, 888 (Mo.App.2008). We view the evidence and all permissible inferences in the light most favorable to the judgment and disregard all contrary evidence and inferences. Bridgeman v. Bridgeman, 63 S.W.3d 686, 689 (Mo.App.2002).
Wife raises six points on appeal. Many of her claims pertain to the division of marital property. “The circuit court has broad discretion in dividing property in a dissolution action, and we will interfere ... only if the division is so unduly weighted in favor of one party that it amounts to an abuse of discretion.” Bright v. Bright, 429 S.W.3d 517, 520 (Mo.App.2014). We will find an abuse of discretion only if the ruling is “clearly against the logic of the circumstances and is so arbitrary and unreasonable as to shock one's sense of justice and indicate a lack of careful consideration.” Id. The appellant bears the burden of overcoming the presumption that the circuit court's division of the property is correct. Id.
Section 452.330, RSMo,2 governs the division of marital property. It provides that the circuit court “shall set apart to each spouse such spouse's nonmarital property and shall divide the marital property and marital debt in such proportions as the court deems just after considering all relevant factors.”3 § 452.330.1. Thus, pursuant to section 452.330.1, the division of both the marital property and marital debts is mandatory on the part of the trial court. Jonusas v. Jonusas, 168 S.W.3d 117, 119–20, n. 1 (Mo.App.2005) ; Belcher v. Belcher, 106 S.W.3d 601, 604 (Mo.App.2003). The circuit court has “great flexibility and far-reaching power in dividing the marital property.” Bright, 429 S.W.3d at 520. While the statute requires a fair and equitable division, it does not mandate an equal division. See id.
In Point I, Wife contends that the circuit court erred as a matter of law in awarding her a portion of Husband's monthly LAGERS retirement benefit because, pursuant to section 70.695, such benefits are specifically “unassignable.” As a result, Wife argues, the circuit court erred in its overall division of property and the maintenance award “because they relied in part on the assumption that [Wife] was to receive $135 per month of [Husband's] LAGERS benefits.”
There is no dispute that retirement benefits are marital property subject to division. Lagermann v. Lagermann, 109 S.W.3d 239, 243 (Mo.App.2003). Typically, when a dissolution decree delineates a former spouse's right to receive a portion of a retirement plan as marital property, the court will enter a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (“QDRO”). See Seal v. Raw, 954 S.W.2d 681, 685 (Mo.App.1997) (citing 29 U.S.C. § 1056(d)(3) ). “To alienate or assign Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) retirement benefits when dividing marital property, a court must enter a QDRO[.]” In re Marriage of Green, 341 S.W.3d 169, 174 (Mo.App.2011) (citing 29 U.S.C. §§ 1056(d)(1), (3)(A) (2000) ). “A QDRO ‘creates or recognizes the existence of an alternate payee's right to ... receive all or a portion of the benefits payable with respect to a participant under a [pension] plan [.]’ ” Seal, 954 S.W.2d at 683 (quoting 29 U.S.C. § 1056(d)(3)(B) ). A QDRO allows a court “to enforce a nonplan participant's right to ... marital property rights previously granted by any judgment, decree, or order.” Shelton v. Shelton, 201 S.W.3d 576, 580 (Mo.App.2006) (citations omitted).
Here, the circuit court made no provision for a QDRO. Presumably, this is because a decree relating to the division of a LAGERS retirement plan will not satisfy ERISA requirements to be designated a “qualified” domestic relations order.4 At trial, the court informed the parties that LAGERS will not honor a QDRO. Husband's attorney was fully aware of that fact; Wife's attorney was not.5 On direct examination, Husband's attorney asked Husband:
As noted, the circuit court agreed with Husband's position on this issue and ordered that: “[Wife] is awarded $135 of the monthly retirement benefit that [Husband] has accrued through LAGERS, during the marriage, to be received by [Wife] when and if [Husband] draws retirement from the LAGERS account[.]”
On appeal, Wife relies on Smith v. Missouri Local Government Employees Retirement System, 235 S.W.3d 578 (Mo.App.2007), to argue that the circuit court's order that a portion of Husband's LAGERS benefits be paid to her “when and if [Husband] draws from this retirement” is “irregular and void” because it violates section 70.695. Section 70.695 provides:
The right of a person to an allowance, to the return of accumulated contributions, the allowance itself, any allowance option, and any other right accrued or accruing under the provisions of [the statutes pertaining to LAGERS], and all moneys belonging to the system shall not be subject to execution, garnishment, attachment, the operation of bankruptcy or insolvency laws, or to any other process of law whatsoever, and shall be unassignable, [with certain exceptions].
Among the exceptions is a provision pertaining to “the support and maintenance of children.” § 70.695(2). There is no corresponding exception for a spouse. See id.
In Smith, the parties had agreed that the wife would relinquish any...
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