Court Opinion

ID: 9569851
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:18:02.717998+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:04:09.947292
License: Public Domain

ZIMMERMAN, Justice
(concurring and dissenting):
I join Justice Stewart’s opinion in its rejection of the equitable restitution doctrine created by the court of appeals. As he states, the trial court has ample power to make alimony and property division awards which will ensure that equity is done to a spouse who is denied an increase in standard of living because a divorce occurs on the threshold of an event that is economically advantageous to the other spouse. There is no reason to create a new and conceptually ill-defined property concept to meet this need.
Justice Durham’s dissent deserves some comment. She suggests that we should affirm the court of appeals’ adoption of an equitable restitution doctrine because our existing ease law on property division and alimony is insufficiently flexible to allow for the fashioning of a remedy for situations of the type presented here. She then suggests that if we are going to rely upon property division and alimony law to deal with these problems, we need to articulate guidelines for the trial courts in dealing with this area.
I disagree with Justice Durham’s premise that our cases do not permit the use of alimony and property division to produce a fair result in these cases. It may be that our prior cases have not addressed the issue, but the opinion Justice Stewart has authored today does. The majority specifically states:
When a marriage of long duration dissolves on the threshold of a major change in the income of one of the spouses due to the collective efforts of both, that change, unless unrelated to the efforts put forward by the spouses during marriage, should be given some weight in fashioning the support award.
At 542.
The majority opinion also makes it clear that the trial court can make such compensating adjustments to both the property division and the alimony award as it deems necessary to make the ultimate decision equitable:
[I]f one spouse’s earning capacity has been greatly enhanced through the efforts of both spouses during the marriage, it may be appropriate for the trial court to make a compensating adjustment in dividing the marital property and awarding alimony.
At 542.
In light of this language, joined in by four members of the court, there can be no doubt that trial judges are empowered and enjoined to take circumstances like those presented here into account in making alimony and property division awards. To the extent that Justice Durham’s opinion suggests the contrary, it misstates the law.
As for what appears to be Justice Durham’s larger concern — that we have given the trial courts insufficient guidance as to how to make the required adjustments in awards — I agree that over time, we will have to give further shape to the rules governing the division of property and the award of alimony to be sure that both parties in cases like this one are dealt with fairly. However, there seems little need to opt for one theoretical framework now. In this area, law development on a case-by-case basis may be the best approach.
*544On a separate issue, I dissent from the majority’s remand of this matter to the trial court. The court of appeals found that the trial court abused its discretion and attempted to modify the decree to make it sufficiently equitable to pass appellate muster. In doing so, the court of appeals modified the alimony award and the child support award and ordered equitable restitution. We granted certiorari to consider only the equitable restitution portion of that modification of the divorce decree, and we have now said that in making that specific modification, the court of appeals overreached. We have not said that the decree was equitable without some adjustment that would address the problem which motivated the creation of the equitable restitution doctrine. We have only said that the equitable result sought by the court of appeals cannot be achieved that way. In fact, the opinion of Justice Stewart recognizes that the trial court had the power to effect a remedy for the underlying problem.
Under these circumstances, we should remand the matter to the court of appeals for further proceedings. It should be allowed to again address the propriety of the trial court’s decree in light of our explication of the law. There is no occasion for us to send this matter back to the trial court. If the court of appeals thinks it needs more information from the trial court, there will be time enough for such a remand.