Opinion ID: 2774437
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the Defendant retires.

Text: In the event that on the date that the Defendant retires the Plaintiff has not re-married, then the Defendant shall on a monthly basis, pay the Plaintiff as general spousal support 1/2 of his retirement earnings until the Plaintiff re-marries. Patricia has not remarried and therefore remains entitled to receive support pursuant to the judgment. [¶3] Dexter was employed by the United States Postal Service (USPS) until he became disabled and stopped working in April 2013. He then began to receive Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits and retirement benefits from the USPS. Additionally, he receives retirement benefits from the United States Air Force (USAF) and rental income from a house he owns, which is occupied by the son of his present wife. He also expects to receive Social Security benefits when he reaches the age of sixty-five. 3 [¶4] In May 2013, Dexter filed a motion to modify the amount of his spousal support obligation pursuant to 19-A M.R.S. § 951(4) (2014), alleging a change of circumstances because he is no longer employed. At a case management conference on the motion, both parties agreed that the court would issue an order clarifying the term “retirement earnings” as it appears in the judgment. In October 2013, a non-testimonial hearing was held, where Dexter contended that only money earned during retirement, such as the rental income, should be considered “retirement earnings,” while Patricia argued that spousal support should be based on all categories of income that Dexter received during retirement, including his SSD benefits and his USPS and USAF retirement benefits. The court issued a written order clarifying the judgment by defining “retired” and “retirement earnings,” as used in the judgment, as follows: The Defendant shall be considered to be retired when he ceases to be regularly employed for whatever reason. Retirement earnings consist of all monies paid to or received by the Defendant. This would include but not be limited to: his Social Security, Social Security disability, postal retirement, military retirement, rental income, and monies received for any of his labor. [¶5] In January 2014, a testimonial hearing was held on Dexter’s motion to modify. There, Dexter argued that his support obligation should either be 4 terminated altogether or reduced to a monthly payment of $700.1 Following the hearing, the court issued a written decision denying Dexter’s motion. The court found that Patricia’s annual income, including the spousal support that Dexter was required to pay, was approximately $29,000 and that without spousal support, her only source of income was Social Security, which amounted to less than $9,000 annually. At the time of the hearing, she was seventy-five years old and lived in subsidized housing for the elderly. Dexter, who was sixty-two years old at the time of the hearing, received more than $51,000 annually from retirement and disability benefits and rental income. He had remarried, and his new wife received annual retirement benefits of $20,000. The court concluded that the amount of spousal support required by the judgment was both necessary to maintain a “reasonable standard of living” for Patricia and within Dexter’s financial capability. 1 The record does not reveal why Dexter argued that support should be reduced to this particular amount as an alternative to termination of support. 5 [¶6] Dexter filed a timely appeal from the court’s order.2 He contends that the court erred by construing “retirement earnings” too broadly and by denying his motion to modify his support obligation.3