Court Opinion

ID: 9720181
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:19:16.618496+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:03:11.894919
License: Public Domain

WORK, J., Dissenting.
There are retirements, and then there are retirements. Some forced, some voluntary at the time the number of years of employment coalesces with the employee’s requisite age, and others which are offered to induce employees to retire early for the economic benefit of the employer. George is in the latter category, one which has been utilized with more and more frequency in the past decade as major employers faced with increasing pressures of international competition seek to maintain or increase profit margins.
When the parties here were divorced in 1981, it is likely neither they nor the court assumed George would opt to retire before completing 20 years service, an event which would occur the same year he would reach the generally accepted retirement age of 65. Indeed, the retirement plan utilized by George was not enacted by his employer until 1986. It, in effect, enhanced the retirement benefit by crediting George with an additional three years service should he retire at age 62. Thus, suddenly George was in a position to immediately retire with the same benefits he would otherwise have to work another three years to receive, an offer he apparently was emotionally unable to refuse. In addition, he was able to cash in approximately $55,000 of separate property retirement benefits he had invested in his employer’s company. George states he is placing this money at interest for living expenses. The adequacy of this sum is apparent from George’s election to take an additional $70,000 from cash in hand and apply it toward the purchase of a residence.
On the other hand, George’s decision has a significant detrimental impact on Betty’s ability to receive meaningful spousal support even though her separate property interest in the retirement fund is increased by a negligible amount. Her percentage was set at one-half of ten years divided by the number of years George worked times the amount of the total monthly *596retirement payment. Had George actually worked 20 years to get the same total sum, Betty’s share would be only 25 percent. Here, she gets 29.1 percent. The downside is, for a period of at least three years, she has an ex-husband whose income has been substantially reduced.
In one sense, neither party generates confidence from a reviewing court. The opposing declarations contain unsupported accusations of the other’s conduct with charges that each is hiding assets and living lifestyles with third parties which belie their purported financial distress. There is no showing the allegations are supported by evidence to the trial court or that they influenced its decision.
There is simply no substantial evidence that George accepted early retirement for the purpose of shirking his responsibilities to his ex-wife, the finding referred to in Philbin v. Philbin (1971) 19 Cal.App.3d 115 [96 Cal.Rptr. 408] and in In re Marriage of Williams (1984) 155 Cal.App.3d 57 [202 Cal.Rptr. 10] as triggering use of the “ability to earn” standard. Further, the trial court made no such express finding, nor does the trial court’s comments on George’s awareness that his income would plummet when he retired and that his health appeared sound, reasonably support such a finding by implication. Unlike the majority, I do not find facts in this record rendering George’s motivation in retiring “suspect,” at least in the context it is employed, i.e., an intent to deprive Betty of support.
Even so, I agree the circumstances as presented on this record do not necessitate our addressing the significant hypothetical issue posited regarding whether persons eligible for age or service retirements can be forced to continue working solely because their ex-spouse’s support needs cannot otherwise be met. The issue is important and complex, but the defect in the present case is only that the trial court did not exercise discretion based on George’s actual ability to pay, a consideration requiring an evaluation not only of income but of separate property assets. (See Civ. Code, § 4801, subd. (a)(3).) For instance, when George took early retirement he was not only free to “vacation” early, he also freed more than $50,000 in retirement benefits and was able to shunt some $70,000 of potentially income-producing capital into a real property nonincome-producing home. That George’s income needs are such that he can elect to forgo maximizing his current income in favor of a long-time investment in a home suggests there are several relevant factors for the court to evaluate.1 Thus, I would reverse the *597order of spousal support insofar as it denies modification and remand to the trial court for further findings in which the personal assets of each party are evaluated in conjunction with other relevant factors.

 We note also George lists a monthly rental for a mobile home space but lists no mobile home as an asset nor explains why he is making monthly payments both on a home and a mobile home space.