Opinion ID: 1133492
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Survivor Benefit Plan

Text: Lora argues that the superior court erred by failing to require Samuel to carry Lora, at his expense, on the survivor benefit plan securing his military retirement benefit against the risk of his death. She recognizes that, although the parties agreed in the superior court that Lora would be carried on the plan, they disagreed about who should pay. Samuel objected in the superior court to paying to carry Lora on the survivor benefit plan, but did not object to carrying her on the plan if she paid the attendant expense. He argues on appeal that he does not oppose awarding Lora an interest in the plan, as long as her interest is limited to twenty-five percent and she pays for it. At the hearing, the superior court announced that [u]nder the circumstances established in this case no survivorship benefit should be awarded to the defendant. This ruling implicitly declined to make Samuel bear the cost of carrying Lora on the survivor benefit plan, but did not prevent Lora from accepting Samuel's offer to carry her on the plan at her expense. The written conclusions of law state that Samuel shall not be required to carry [Lora] on the Survivor Benefit Plan. We reject Lora's implicit argument that we should enforce the parties' agreement. The parties reached no agreement about who should pay. We also reject Lora's claim that because she was awarded less than half of Samuel's retirement benefit, she should not have to bear the premium expense. She does not state the cost of covering her interest, or provide any other support for her argument. Her unsupported assertion does not demonstrate an abuse of discretion. Nor has she demonstrated any reason why Samuel should pay the cost of securing her interest in the retirement benefit. If Lora wants to be carried on the plan, she should bear the expense of that protection. If on remand she agrees to bear that expense, Samuel should be required to facilitate covering her under the survivor benefit plan to the extent of her interest.