Court Opinion

ID: 9529597
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:52:19.368368+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:27:51.071224
License: Public Domain

Justice LOHR,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I agree in substance with the majority’s determinations in this case that (1) the deferred distribution method of distributing pension benefits, as implemented through the “time rule” formula, could properly be applied to identify and value the marital property portion of the husband’s vested, but unmatured, civil service pension benefits; (2) pension benefits of parties to the same dissolution proceeding may be treated differently depending on their value relative to the remainder of the marital assets; and (3) the “time rule” formula may also be applied to any lump-sum pension benefit payment available as a result of the death of one of the spouses. However, I write separately to express my continuing disagreement, first set forth in my dissent to the court’s opinion in In re Marriage of Hunt, 909 P.2d 525 (Colo.1995), with the majority’s requirement that the marital property portion of the pension benefits be equally divided between the spouses through the inclusion of the third component of the “time rule” formula,1 the ⅝ multiplier.
I concurred in Hunt with the majority’s application of the first two components of the “time rule” formula to determine the portion of military pension benefits to be distributed as marital property, which necessarily included post-dissolution benefit enhancements, and I concur in the present case with the majority’s extension of the applicability of the first two components of this formula to the vested, unmatured pension benefits at issue here. I disagree, however, with the rigid application of the third component of the “time rule” formula, the ⅜ multiplier, which mandates equal division between the spouses of the portion of the pension benefits determined to be marital property. As explained more fully in my dissent to Hunt, the division of marital property between the spouses is committed to the discretion of the trial court, to be based upon the court’s consideration of the statutory criteria codified at section 14-10-113(l)(a)-(d), 6B C.R.S. (1987). By requiring trial courts to divide these benefits equally, without regard to the specific circumstances of the parties, the majority impermissibly limits the traditional discretion of the trial courts and interferes with the trial courts’ ability to effect an equitable distribution of the marital property. Despite the majority’s contentions, maj. op. at 551, the statutory criteria in section 14-10-113(1) are not considered in the court’s selection of a present or future method of distribution. See Hunt, 909 P.2d at 546 (Lohr, J., dissenting). Accordingly, I dissent from the adoption and application of the “time rule” formula to the extent that it prescribes the equal division of the marital property portion of the pension benefits and thereby compromises the trial court’s ability to fashion an equitable division of the marital assets.
It is not clear from the record in the present case whether the trial court considered the requisite statutory criteria in evenly dividing between the parties the portion of the husband’s pension benefits classified as marital property. Consequently, on remand, I would require the trial court to consider the factors identified in section 14-10-113(1) before dividing the marital portion of the husband’s pension benefits. In all other respects I agree with the majority’s resolution of the issues presented by this ease.

. The "time rule" formula adopted by the majority in Hunt for the determination of the portion of pension benefits to be classified as marital property and for division of that marital property between the spouses under the deferred distribution method is as follows:
Years of Service
During Marriage x Monthly Benefit x ½ Years of Total (After Taxes) Service
In re Marriage of Hunt, 909 P.2d 525, 532 (Colo. 1995).