Court Opinion

ID: 9670240
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:17:14.521658+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:03.263122
License: Public Domain

LEVINE, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
I believe the issue of spousal support gets undeserved short shrift and therefore I dissent.
*293Throughout this seventeen-year marriage, Maxine’s periodic employment outside the home was clearly of secondary importance. She worked outside the home in order to contribute to the family enterprise and not to enhance, expand or even engage in an independent or self-fulfilling career. I disagree with the majority’s assessment that Maxine was not “substantially disadvantaged by the divorce.” When a homemaker concentrates on a homemaking career, she is necessarily disadvantaged by that choice when the marriage dissolves.
Maxine presently earns minimum wages as a sales clerk. She is unskilled in any occupation or profession. Her interest in educating herself either as a court reporter or as a business person seems appropriate and realistic. She anticipates it will take her two years to achieve the necessary training. I cannot see what is indefinite about this. Nor can I understand how the trial court so cavalierly concludes that Maxine is not interested in educating herself. It is indeed curious that a court would conclude that a minimum wage earner who thinks about her future would not be interested in improving her earning capacity.
It is one thing to provide a second income from a minimum wage job. It is quite another to be left a sole earner of minimum wages. Maxine testified that she wanted to go to school to do something she “could be proud of and feel good” about. She enjoyed being home and cooking, cleaning, laundering, grocery shopping, mowing the lawn, keeping the family books, paying the bills and helping with chores. That life is no longer possible. It is a mistake to deprive her of a crack at improving her life. I would reverse and remand for the trial court to determine a reasonable amount of spousal support for a reasonable duration.