Court Opinion

ID: 9624268
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 06:56:29.542039+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:42.194679
License: Public Domain

MATTHEWS, Justice,
concurring.
I believe that this case is controlled by Hisquierdo v. Hisquierdo, - U.S. -, 99 S.Ct. 802, 59 L.Ed. 1 (1979), and therefore agree that the decision of the superior court must be reversed. Except for that decision I would have found no federal pre-emption, *1233in accord with such decisions as Ramsey v. Ramsey, 96 Idaho 672, 535 P.2d 53 (1975), and In Re Marriage of Fithian, 10 Cal.3d 592, 111 Cal.Rptr. 369, 517 P.2d 449 (1974).
As a matter of state law it is clear that retirement pay must be considered in dividing marital property. AS 09.55.210(6) requires that property acquired during marriage be divided “in the manner as may be just” and in so deciding we have consistently required consideration of the financial circumstances of each party. E. g., Merrill v. Merrill, 368 P.2d 546, 547-48 n. 4 (Alaska 1962); Malone v. Malone, 587 P.2d 1167 (Alaska 1978). Often the major asset of a retired military family is the husband’s retirement pay. To award that to the husband and divide the remaining assets between husband and wife as if the retirement benefit did not exist is to ignore the husband’s financial circumstances. It is also plainly unfair to the wife.