Court Opinion

ID: 9747409
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 15:13:51.439219+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:23.547290
License: Public Domain

ZAPPALA, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
I join in the concurring and dissenting opinion of Justice Castille except as it relates to the ORBIT account. I would exclude the entire ORBIT account, consisting of both employer and employee contributions, from marital property for the reasons articulated by the Superior Court:
In his fifth claim, Husband argues that the trial court improperly characterized his Optional Retirement Benefit Investment Trust (ORBIT) as a marital asset. ORBIT was *404offered by Sun Oil Company in 1981, four years after the parties separated. Although separate from the early retirement incentive program offered by Sun Oil in 1987, ORBIT increased Husband’s monthly retirement benefit beginning in July of 1988. Although Husband purchased ORBIT with funds ($27,033.47) from the Suncap Account, we do not find this dispositive here. This was an option offered to Husband four years after separation; at that time, the funds in the Suncap Account had not been distributed into marital shares. It is impossible to tell at this point whether any of the marital portion of the Suncap Account was used to purchase ORBIT and we cannot speculate that it was.
Gordon v. Gordon, 436 Pa.Super. 126, 147, 647 A.2d 530, 540 (1994).
NIGRO, J., joins in this concurring and dissenting opinion.