Opinion ID: 1781860
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the court erred in awarding fifty (50%) percent of james michael hemsley's military retirement benefits and civil service retirement benefits to elizabeth m. hemsley.

Text: Mike contends that Bitsy has no property right in his military retirement pay and that it can only be considered as part of the income stream available to divorcing spouses when the chancellor determines the amount of alimony to award. Bitsy, however, maintains that the lower court did have the authority to make an equitable division of Mike's military and civil service retirement benefits. The federal government has vested state courts with the power to allocate military retirement pay pursuant to a divorce decree. 10 U.S.C. § 1408(c)(1) (Supp. 1992). See Powers v. Powers, 465 So.2d 1036, 1037 (Miss. 1985) (state courts in Mississippi have power to allocate military retirement pay pursuant to divorce decree). A spouse who has made a material contribution toward the acquisition of an asset titled in the name of the other may claim an equitable interest in such jointly accumulated property. Jones v. Jones, 532 So.2d 574, 580-81 (Miss. 1988). See also White v. White, 557 So.2d 480, 484 (Miss. 1989); Johnson v. Johnson, 550 So.2d 416, 420 (Miss. 1989). In the case sub judice the chancellor's findings of fact in part held: The wife contributed her share by rocking the cradle, keeping the house, and caring for the children. Although the husband was bringing in the income, still marriage is pretty much a 50/50 partnership as to property acquired during the marriage regardless of the role played by the parties. Certainly we recognize that Mississippi is not a community property state, but many of our cases indicate that the Court still should make an equitable division of the property acquired during the marital relationship. Equity means equal fairness. (emphasis added). In addition the opinion stated: The Court feels that it would be grossly unfair to allow the defendant to divorce his wife and either remarry or allow some other woman to reap the benefits of the plan acquired during the best years of their life. He should not live in comfort while the ex-spouse becomes destitute. So it would seem in equity that the retirement benefits should be for the marriage and not for either individual party to the marriage and, also, to some degree, the children until they reach their majority. There is a distinction between alimony and retirement benefits. In Brown v. Brown, 574 So.2d 688 (Miss. 1990), this Court noted that the Federal Uniformed Services Former Spouses Protection Act, 10 U.S.C. § 1408 (hereinafter FUSFSPA), allowed the states to treat the military retirement pensions of their domiciliaries as personal property subject to state property laws. Brown, 574 So.2d at 690. In reference to a spouse's equitable right to a share of the other spouse's military retirement pay, this Court reiterated that a chancery court has authority, where equity so demands, to order a fair division of property accumulated through the joint contributions and efforts of the parties. Brown, 574 So.2d at 690. See also Brendel v. Brendel, 566 So.2d 1269, 1273 (Miss. 1990); Jones v. Jones, 532 So.2d 574, 580-81 (Miss. 1988); Regan v. Regan, 507 So.2d 54, 56 (Miss. 1987); Watts v. Watts, 466 So.2d 889, 891 (Miss. 1985); Clark v. Clark, 293 So.2d 447, 459 (1974). Assets acquired or accumulated during the course of a marriage are subject to equitable division unless it can be shown by proof that such assets are attributable to one of the parties' separate estates prior to the marriage or outside the marriage. In Newman v. Newman, 558 So.2d 821 (Miss. 1990), this Court recognized that a former spouse's rights vel non in his or her former mate's military retirement pension ... is subject to the personal property laws of the states. ... Id. at 823 (emphasis added). In Southern v. Glenn, 568 So.2d 281 (Miss. 1990), this Court stated that [a] spouse's military retirement pension is an asset.... Id. at 283 n. 1. The chancellor had the authority to order a fair division of the retirement benefits since they were accumulated through the joint contributions and efforts of the parties. Brown, 574 So.2d at 690. There are those who would impose title absolutes to property acquired during marriage. They would grant almost all property rights based on title or grant almost all property rights to the income earner. This ignores reality. We must recognize that married parties usually create estates together. In 1619 at the first Legislative Assembly in the new world the General Assembly of (the colony) Virginia in a petition to the founding company said: The thirde petition humbly presented by this General assembly to the Treasurer, Counsell, & Company is, that it may plainely be expressed in the great Commission (as indeed it is not) that the antient planters of both sortes, ... and suche also as were brought hither upon the Companies coste, may have their second, third, and more divisions sucessively in as lardge and free manner as any other Planters. Also they wilbe pleased to allowe to the male children of them and of all others begotten in Virginia, being the only hope of a Posterity, a single share a piece, and shares for their wives as for themselves; because that in a newe plantation it is not knowen, whether man or woman be the more necessary. (emphasis added). John Pory, Proceedings of the General Assembly of Virginia, July 30-August 4, 1619, (W.J. Van Schreeven & G. Reese eds. 1969). Likewise, today in acquiring a marital estate, courts cannot tell who is the most important, the man or the woman. Presently the law often deals with a fiction that the parties are deemed to enter into marriage with two separate estates. Most parties enter into marriage with no estate and proceed to build an estate together. Therefore, in the event of a divorce, there is more often than not one estate. If the breadwinner happens to be the husband and has all property in his name, this serves to relegate the non-bread-winner wife to the equivalent of a maid  and upon division of the marital estate entitled to a minimum wage credit for her homemaking service. We abandon such an approach. We, today, recognize that marital partners can be equal contributors whether or not they both are at work in the market-place. We define marital property for the purpose of divorce as being any and all property acquired or accumulated during the marriage. Assets so acquired or accumulated during the course of the marriage are marital assets and are subject to an equitable distribution by the chancellor. We assume for divorce purposes that the contributions and efforts of the marital partners, whether economic, domestic or otherwise are of equal value. In arriving at an equitable distribution the chancellor should follow those guidelines as set out in Ferguson v. Ferguson, 639 So.2d 921, decided July 7, 1994. We conclude that the chancellor's award of fifty percent of the retirement benefits was amply supported by the record and the law and that he appropriately recognized both the property and income aspects of this asset. The chancellor ordered that Bitsy's alimony be reduced by her share of the retirement benefits once Mike started to receive his benefits. The chancellor stated the following: The Court also recognizes the fact that when the retirement benefits commence to be paid the plaintiff must give the defendant credit on the periodic alimony for all amounts received from the retirement plans. Therefore, the periodic alimony will self-adjust by reducing the amount in proportion to the amount received when the plaintiff commences to receive those benefits or when the defendant retires and no longer has a regular employment income.