Lee v. Lee
| Citation | 749 N.W.2d 51 |
| Decision Date | 25 March 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. A07-0110.,A07-0110. |
| Parties | In re the Matter of Elaine Irene LEE, petitioner, Respondent v. Raymond Michael LEE, Appellant. |
| Court | Minnesota Court of Appeals |
Robert L. Weiner, Robert L. Weiner & Associates, Minneapolis, MN, for respondent.
Timothy W.J. Dunn, St. Paul, MN, for appellant.
Considered and decided by KLAPHAKE, Presiding Judge; MINGE, Judge; and SCHELLHAS, Judge.
Appellant Raymond Michael Lee challenges the district court's order modifying a spousal maintenance award, establishing the current needs of the parties, requiring him to obtain life insurance to secure maintenance payments, and awarding respondent Elaine Irene Lee conduct-based attorney fees for her collection of maintenance arrears judgments. Appellant also asserts that the district court abused its discretion by considering respondent's motions on various maintenance issues and attorney fees when her supporting documents were not timely filed. Appellant further claims that the district court erred by treating his pension benefits as income available to satisfy his maintenance obligation and by failing to terminate his maintenance obligation after his retirement caused a decrease in his income that left his expenses in excess of his income.
We reverse the district court's order modifying the amount of the maintenance award and requiring appellant to obtain life insurance to secure maintenance payments, reduce respondent's maintenance award to zero, and modify the district court's order so that it retains jurisdiction over the issue of future maintenance, consistent with this opinion. Finally, we affirm the district court's finding of current needs, its award of conduct-based attorney fees, and its application of procedural rules regarding late filings.
The parties' 25-year marriage was dissolved on June 7, 1993, and the original decree awarded respondent permanent spousal maintenance of $650 per month and allocated equally between the parties appellant's pension benefits derived from three separate plans that had accumulated during the marriage. Subsequently, the court similarly divided the interest in two defined benefit pension plans that were omitted from the 1993 decree.
In June 1994, appellant was laid off from his job as a journeyman electrician and moved to reduce his spousal maintenance obligation. On August 17, 1994, the district court reduced spousal maintenance to $341.08 per month because appellant's sole income was his unemployment compensation. Nearly ten years later, on February 27, 2004, the district court reinstated the original $650 per month maintenance obligation retroactive to the date of its previous order and increased the obligation to $825 per month retroactive to November 1, 2003. At that time, respondent had retired from employment due to medical disability. The court also entered judgment against appellant for maintenance arrears and awarded respondent attorney fees. This court affirmed the February 27, 2004 order. Lee v. Lee, No. A04-1070, 2005 WL 949038 (Minn.App. Apr. 26, 2005). Respondent then initiated garnishment proceedings against appellant, incurring further attorney fees.
On July 13, 2005, appellant, now retired, moved to terminate spousal maintenance, based on a decrease in his income and an increase in respondent's income. On August 8, 2005, respondent served and filed a responsive motion, without supporting affidavits, seeking maintenance for the duration of her life, security for spousal maintenance, and attorney fees. Both parties later filed affidavits and objections, and the court heard the matter on August 18, 2005.
In considering the maintenance issue, the district court included in its calculation of appellant's monthly income available for maintenance all payments that he receives from his pension benefit plans, except $795.64, representing the amount respondent receives from her award of pension benefits, for a net income of $3,227.14. Appellant's income, excluding all pension benefits, was $1,555. The court found respondent's net monthly income, excluding spousal maintenance, was $1,674.14. The court also found that neither party submitted reliable evidence of changes in his or her respective expenses after the February 27, 2004 order and therefore used as current expenses that order's findings of $1,950 for respondent and $2,100 for appellant. The court determined that appellant had suffered a substantial diminution in income, making the original maintenance award unreasonable and unfair. The court found that respondent had a monthly shortfall of $275.14, based on deducting her $1,950 in monthly expenses from her $1,674.14 in net monthly income, while appellant had a monthly surplus of $1,127.14, based on deducting his $2,100 in monthly expenses from his $3,227.14 in net monthly income. The court then "balanc[ed] ... the parties' surpluses and shortages" to reduce spousal maintenance to $700 per month, making the award retroactive to May 1, 2006. The court also ordered appellant to secure payment of spousal maintenance by obtaining a life insurance policy naming respondent as the beneficiary and ordered him to pay attorney fees for the collection of previous maintenance arrears judgments, but the court denied both parties' motions for attorney fees for the present proceedings.
1. Did the district court err in modifying appellant's spousal maintenance obligation based on a calculation that included appellant's pension benefits as income available to satisfy his maintenance obligation?
2. Did the district court err by using the parties' past expenses to establish their current needs in determining whether to modify spousal maintenance?
3. Did the district court abuse its discretion by modifying spousal maintenance retroactive to a date with no factual basis in the record?
4. Did the district court abuse its discretion by ordering appellant to obtain life insurance to secure the payment of spousal maintenance?
5. Did the district court abuse its discretion in its award of attorney fees?
6. Did the district court abuse its discretion by considering respondent's motion for lifetime spousal maintenance, security for spousal maintenance, and attorney fees, when supporting documents were untimely filed?
A district court may modify an order for spousal maintenance upon a showing of a substantial increase or decrease in the gross income or need of either party that makes the terms of the original order "unreasonable and unfair." Minn.Stat. § 518A.39, subd. 2 (2006). "Findings of fact concerning spousal maintenance must be upheld unless they are clearly erroneous." Gessner v. Gessner, 487 N.W.2d 921, 923 (Minn.App.1992). A finding of fact "induced by an erroneous view of the law" is clearly erroneous. Reserve Mining. Co. v. State, 310 N.W.2d 487, 490 (Minn.1981).
Appellant challenges the district court's inclusion of his pension plan benefits as income for purposes of determining the amount of modified maintenance. In arriving at the amount of pension benefits available for maintenance, the district court made a simple calculation that subtracted from appellant's total monthly pension receipts the amount that respondent received as a property award and determined that the difference was income to appellant that is available to pay maintenance. Because appellant had accrued pension benefits for nine years before the marriage, for 25 years during the marriage, and for an indeterminate amount of time after the marriage, we analyze each accrual period of pension benefits separately.
In the original dissolution decree, the district court awarded respondent one-half of the pension appellant had "accumulated during the marriage." As such, that award was a division of marital property under Minn.Stat. § 518.58, subd. 3(a) (2006). Alternatively, the district court could have ordered payments from the pension funds as maintenance, in either periodic payments or a fixed dollar amount. Minn.Stat. § 518.581, subd. 1 (2006).
On the modification motion, the district court correctly recognized that pension benefits awarded as marital property are not also available for payment of maintenance. But the district court also found that the benefits appellant received in excess of the benefits received by respondent were available for maintenance. Appellant argues that this finding is clearly erroneous. We agree, concluding that the district court failed to apply the principles set forth in Kruschel v. Kruschel, 419 N.W.2d 119 (Minn.App.1988), and In re Marriage of Richards and Richards, 472 N.W.2d 162 (Minn.App.1991), and instead relied on Walker v. Walker, 553 N.W.2d 90 (Minn. App.1996).
In Kruschel, this court addressed whether pension benefits awarded as property may also be used as income for maintenance purposes, holding that all pension benefits received by a maintenance obligor, who is awarded the benefits as property, are to remain a property award until the obligor receives "an amount equivalent [to the value of the pension benefits] as determined in the original property distribution." Kruschel, 419 N.W.2d at 123. In Richards, this court, noting that the purpose of Kruschel was to "avoid" a post-decree redistribution of property, applied Kruschel to conclude that "income representing the appreciation of the pension after the divorce [is not] immediately available for maintenance" until benefits equal to the value of the original property award are fully received by the party to whom they were awarded. Richards, 472 N.W.2d at 166.
Applying Kruschel and Richards here, we conclude that until appellant receives the full value of the portion of his pension benefits awarded to him by the original decree, any benefits he receives constitute marital property previously awarded to him. While neither party provided any evidence to establish the value of...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Lee v. Lee
...the district court's order, and the court of appeals reversed, reducing Raymond's monthly maintenance obligation to zero. Lee v. Lee, 749 N.W.2d 51, 57 (Minn.App.2008). The court of appeals vacated the district court's order requiring Raymond to procure insurance, on the grounds that Raymon......
-
S. Robideau Constr., Inc. v. Hiber
...a district court has the discretionary power to entertain a motion notwithstanding its procedural defects. See, e.g., Lee v. Lee, 749 N.W.2d 51, 62 (Minn. App. 2008) ("It is within the district court's discretion to rule on a motion despite [movant]'s late filings."), aff'd in part and rev'......
-
Beltrand v. Beltrand
...own independent financial resources must be considered." Lyon v. Lyon, 439 N.W.2d 18, 22 (Minn. 1989); see also Lee v. Lee, 749 N.W.2d 51, 60 n.2 (Minn. App. 2008) ("[E]qualization of the parties' incomes by an adjustment of maintenance is without authority or precedent."), aff'd in part, r......
-
Chamberlain v. Fleahman (In re Custody of B. L. F.)
...may relax enforcement if "the interests of justice would be best served by relieving a party from formal compliance," Lee v. Lee, 749 N.W.2d 51, 62 (Minn. App. 2008) (quotation omitted), aff'd in part, rev'd in part on other grounds, 775 N.W.2d 631 (Minn. 2009). We will not disturb a distri......