Court Opinion

ID: 9689393
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 18:29:54.272243+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:47.570964
License: Public Domain

STRINGER, Justice
(dissenting).
The evolution of the spousal maintenance statute, Minn.Stat. § 518.522, has been well documented by the majority and in other opinions of this court,1 and little would be served by covering this ground again. In summary, it has been a history of legislative policy increasingly broadening the discretion of the trial court to award temporary or permanent maintenance in dissolutions in response to what the legislature seems to have perceived to be unduly restrictive interpretations of section 518.522 by this court. Because the majority opinion here seems to once again ignore these declarations of legislative policy and, in my opinion, the trial court’s appropriate application of section 518.522 to the facts here, I respectfully dissent.
The trial court has broad discretion in determining the duration and amount of maintenance, and our standard of review is that the trial court’s determination must be affirmed unless the court abused its discretion. Erlandson v. Erlandson, 318 N.W.2d 36, 38 (Minn.1982). We have previously noted that “[tjhere must be a clearly erroneous conclusion that is against logic and the facts on record before this court will find that the trial court abused its discretion.” Rutten v. .Rutten, 347 N.W.2d 47, 50 (Minn.1984). “Each case must be determined on its own facts and no single statutory factor for determining the type or amount of maintenance is dispositive.” Broms v. Broms, 353 N.W.2d 135, 138 (Minn.1984); see also, Erlandson, 318 N.W.2d at 39.
In Nardini v. Nardini we stated that “[a]n award of temporary maintenance is based on the assumption that the party receiving the award not only should strive to obtain suitable employment and become self-supporting but that he or she will attain that goal.” 414 N.W.2d 184, 198 (Minn.1987). If there is “some uncertainty as to the necessity of a permanent award, the court shall order a permanent award leaving its order open for later modification.” Minn.Stat. § 518.552, subd. 3 (1994) (emphasis added). In considering the statutory factors, the trial court here found that: Pederson’s income is insufficient to meet her reasonable needs; she has “reached the top of her chosen profession” with “no desire or intentions of getting further training”; the parties enjoyed a comfortable standard of living; the parties had been married 11 years; Pederson has been seeing a mental health counselor for emotional distress; and Gales’ net income exceeds his estimated reasonable monthly expenses by about $450. The trial court further found that Pederson probably was not capable of earning significantly more money as a bank teller and would likely receive only periodic cost of living increases.
Based on these findings, I find it difficult to conclude that the trial court abused its broad discretion and reached “a clearly erroneous conclusion that is against logic and the facts” in determining that there is some uncertainty as to whether Pederson will become self-supporting. See Rutten, 347 N.W.2d at *42450. When the need for permanent maintenance is not clear, “the delicate balancing of property division and spousal maintenance necessary to place the parties in comparable financial positions is reserved to the good judgment of the trial court.” Nardini, 414 N.W.2d at 199. It is not this court’s role to substitute its own judgment under the circumstances here.

. See, e.g., Abuzzahab v. Abuzzahab, 359 N.W.2d 12, 16-18 (Minn.1984) (Wahl, J., dissenting).