Case Name: STOLTMAN v. STOLTMAN
Court: Michigan Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 1988-08-16
Citations: 170 Mich. App. 653
Docket Number: Docket No. 94072
Parties: STOLTMAN v STOLTMAN
Judges: Before: Mackenzie, P.J., and Kelly and L. P. Borrello, JJ.
Reporter: Michigan appeals reports; cases decided in the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Volume: 170
Pages: 653–664

Head Matter:
STOLTMAN v STOLTMAN
Docket No. 94072.
Submitted January 5, 1988, at Detroit.
Decided August 16, 1988.
Plaintiff, James Stoltman, and defendant, Lola Stoltman, were divorced by order of the Macomb Circuit Court. The divorce judgment ordered plaintiff to pay defendant $130 per week in alimony until defendant’s death or remarriage and awarded plaintiff his pension free of any and all interest of defendant. At that time, plaintiff was still working. Six years later, plaintiff filed a motion to determine rights and terminate alimony because he was taking early retirement, after which his sole source of income would be his pension benefits. The trial court denied the motion, reasoning that the plain language of the judgment awarded permanent alimony until defendant’s death or remarriage, that plaintiff’s retirement was foreseeable, and that nothing in the judgment suggested alimony was to be terminated upon plaintiff’s retirement. The court referred the matter to the Friend of the Court for a determination of whether alimony should be reduced in light of plaintiff’s reduction in income, if any, upon his early retirement. The Friend of . the Court recommended no reduction. Despite the court’s ruling, plaintiff stopped making alimony payments. Defendant filed a petition for an order to show cause. At the hearing on the motion, plaintiff was found to be in contempt of court and ordered to pay his alimony arrearage or spend thirty days in jail, John B. Bruff, J. Plaintiff appealed by leave granted.
The Court of Appeals held:
1. The fact that defendant originally filed an unverified affidavit in support of her petition for the order to show cause •does not void the court’s order finding plaintiff in contempt. The court adjourned the hearing pending defendant’s production of a verified affidavit, and the order was entered after the verified affidavit had been produced. The procedural defect in the original affidavit did not deprive the court of jurisdiction to enter its contempt order nor did it otherwise render the order invalid.
References
Am Jur 2d, Divorce and Separation §§ 664, 699 et seq., 714, 905 et seq.
Am Jur 2d, Pleading §§ 340 et seq.
Pension of husband as resource which court may consider in determining amount of alimony. 22 ALR2d 1421.
Pension or retirement benefits as subject to award or division by court in settlement of property rights between spouses. 94 ALR3d 176.
2. Plaintiffs argument that payment of alimony should cease upon his retirement because his sole source of income is his pension, which was awarded to him free of any claim by defendant, is rejected. The court, in separate provisions, awarded defendant alimony, ordered the distribution of certain assets, and awarded plaintiff his pension. None of the provisions was dependent upon the others. The award of retirement benefits was not part of the property settlement, nor was the award of alimony conditioned upon the property settlement or receipt of retirement benefits. The award of alimony for an indefinite period clearly indicates an intent on the part of the trial court to provide defendant a means of support even after plaintiffs retirement. Furthermore, the division of the pension through alimony is appropriate given the limited cash resources available to defendant and given the liberal pension benefits to be enjoyed by plaintiff, which were accrued during the many years of this marriage.
3. The trial court did not err in finding that plaintiff had failed to carry his burden of proving changed circumstances in support of his motion for modification.
Affirmed.
Kelly, J., dissented. He would hold that a spouse who is awarded pension benefits free and clear from any and all claims of the opposite party cannot have those benefits recategorized as income upon retirement for purposes of determining ability to pay alimony. Plaintiff should not have to pay alimony out of the amount of the pension he was awarded in the divorce judgment. Any enhancement of the value of the pension after that time might also be excluded from the amount available for consideration as income. Judge Kelly would remand to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing on the amount of plaintiff’s income that is available for an award of alimony.
1. Pleading — Verification — Jurisdiction — Amendment of Pleadings.
Imperfect verification of a pleading is not a jurisdictional defect and may be cured by amendment.
2. Divorce — Alimony — Pension Benefits.
The decision whether to terminate alimony upon the retirement of the party obligated to pay alimony when a pension has been awarded to the obligor should be decided on a case-by-case basis.
3. Divorce — Alimony — Pension Benefits.
The division of a pension through an award of alimony, while not always favored, is acceptable in some divorce actions; such a remedy is appropriate where liberal pension benefits accrued during a lengthy marriage and the pensioner’s spouse has limited cash resources.
4. Divorce — Alimony — Modification of Judgments — Burden of Proof.
The party seeking the modification of an award of alimony in a judgment of divorce has the burden of showing changed circumstances which justify modification of the judgment.
Freeman, McKenzie, Matthews, Scherer & Stepek, P.C. (by Daniel T. Stepek), for plaintiff.
Marian Dwaihy Manganello, for defendant.
Before: Mackenzie, P.J., and Kelly and L. P. Borrello, JJ.
Circuit judge, sitting on the Court of Appeals by assignment.

Opinion:
Mackenzie, P.J.
Plaintiff appeals by leave granted from an order denying his motion to set aside an order to show cause and finding him in contempt of court for failing to pay alimony. We affirm.
Plaintiff-husband and defendant-wife were divorced in 1979 after almost thirty years of marriage. The record indicates that defendant has been ill much of her life and is unable to work. Plaintiff apparently worked for the United States government for a considerable period of time. Following a trial, a judgment of divorce was entered which, upon amendment, ordered plaintiff to pay defendant $130 per week in alimony until defendant's death or remarriage. The judgment also awarded plaintiff his pension free of any and all interest of defendant.
Six years later, plaintiff filed a motion to determine rights and terminate alimony based on his plans for early retirement. Plaintiffs position was that upon his retirement he would no longer be obligated to pay alimony since his sole source of income would be his pension benefits. The trial court ultimately denied the motion, reasoning that the plain language of the judgment awarded permanent alimony until defendant's death or remarriage, that plaintiffs retirement was foreseeable, and that nothing in the judgment suggested alimony was to be terminated upon plaintiffs retirement. The court referred the matter to the Friend of the Court for a determination of whether alimony should be reduced in light of plaintiffs reduction in income, if any, upon his early retirement. The Friend of the Court subsequently recommended no reduction.
Despite the court's ruling, plaintiff stopped making his alimony payments. On May 5, 1986, defendant filed a petition for an order to show cause accompanied by an unverified affidavit. A hearing was set. When plaintiff challenged the affidavit, the trial court adjourned the show cause hearing and defendant then filed a verified affidavit. At a show cause hearing conducted June 30, 1986, plaintiff was found in contempt of court and ordered to pay his alimony arrearage or spend thirty days in jail.
Plaintiffs first issue on appeal is procedural. He contends that the court's order finding him in contempt is void because it was based on an order to show cause entered without a proper affidavit. See MCR 3.606(A) and In re Contempt of Evelyn Nathan, 99 Mich App 492, 494; 297 NW2d 646 (1980). See also 5 Honigman & Hawkins, Michigan Court Rules Annotated (2d ed), p 331. We disagree. Imperfect verification of a pleading is not a jurisdictional defect and may be cured by amendment. 1 Honigman & Hawkins, Michigan Court Rules Annotated (2d ed), p 275. Since the trial court adjourned the hearing pending defendant's production of a verified affidavit, we are satisfied that the procedural defect did not deprive the court of jurisdiction to enter its contempt order or otherwise render the order invalid.
Plaintiffs second argument challenges the court's determination that his alimony obligation should not be modified or terminated. Relying on Walker v Walker, 155 Mich App 405; 399 NW2d 541 (1986), plaintiff argues that payment of alimony should cease because his sole source of income is his pension, which was awarded to him free of any claim by defendant.
In Walker, the parties' divorce was uncontested. Their property settlement agreement awarded the husband his pension benefits free of any claims by the wife. The parties also agreed that the husband would pay alimony. The husband subsequently moved to reduce his alimony obligation in anticipation of retirement. Recognizing that when a party consents to a judgment by stipulation the judgment is binding upon the parties and the court, the Walker panel concluded that the husband's pension could not be recategorized as income in determining' his ability to pay alimony.
Walker is distinguishable from the instant case. The parties in Walker agreed that the husband's pension benefits would be awarded to him as property, whereas in the instant case the parties proceeded to trial without such an agreement. Here, the court, in separate provisions, awarded defendant alimony, ordered the distribution of certain assets, and awarded plaintiff his pension. None of these provisions was dependent upon the others. The award of retirement benefits was not a part of the property settlement, nor was the award of alimony conditioned upon the property settlement or receipt of retirement benefits. Instead, the overall award was structured so that both plaintiff and defendant could adequately meet their living expenses.
In any event, we do not think that Walker should be read as establishing a per se rule terminating permanent alimony upon the retirement of the obligor. Such a rule is inconsistent with the general principles of equity which have traditionally governed this Court's review of divorce actions. Instead, the decision whether to terminate alimony upon the retirement of the party obligated to pay alimony when a pension has been awarded to the obligor should be decided on a case-by-case basis. In this case, there is nothing in the record to suggest that defendant was expected to provide for her own support out of the limited property division after plaintiff's retirement. It seems rather clear that the trial court was aware of plaintiff's impending retirement and recognized defendant's need for support assistance on an indefinite basis. Although the court awarded plaintiff his pension outright, the award of alimony for an indefinite period clearly indicates an intent on the part of the trial court to provide defendant a means of support even after plaintiff's retirement. While the division of a marital asset such as a pension through an award of alimony is not always favored, see Keen v Keen, 160 Mich App 314, 316-317; 407 NW2d 643 (1987), it is an acceptable method of distributing a pension in some cases. See Hatcher v Hatcher, 129 Mich App 753, 766; 343 NW2d 498 (1983), Perry v Perry, 133 Mich App 453, 457; 350 NW2d 275 (1984), and Rust v Rust, 143 Mich App 704, 706; 373 NW2d 197 (1985). Such a remedy seems appropriate in the instant case given the limited cash resources available to defendant and given the liberal pension benefits to be enjoyed by plaintiff and which were accrued during this rather lengthy marriage.
The only remaining issue is whether the trial court erred in finding that plaintiff had failed to carry his burden of proving changed circumstances in support of his motion for modification. Rapaport v Rapaport, 158 Mich App 741, 746; 405 NW2d 165 (1987), modified 429 Mich 875 (1987). In our view, plaintiff has proven his retirement but has failed to show a change in the resources available to him for living expenses. Upon his retirement, plaintiff began receiving net regular monthly payments of $2,503.02, or $577.62 per week. Although it is unclear whether plaintiff's pension benefits will become subject to income tax, the Friend of the Court referee estimated that, even allowing for tax deductions, plaintiff's weekly checks will net him $430.21. At the time of the divorce, plaintiff's net income was $474.20 per week. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court's order denying plaintiff's motion for modification.
Affirmed.
L. P. Borrello, J., concurred.