Court Opinion

ID: 9530069
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:57:08.82826+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:27:59.628074
License: Public Domain

JOHNSON, Justice,
concurring, concurring specially, and concurring in the result.
I concur in the Court’s opinion, except part II, in which I concur specially, and part 111(A), in which I concur in the result.
As to part II, I write only to clarify that I view the DA Plan as, in essence, a savings account. This Court has never held that the time rule is appropriate for the division of community savings accounts. Therefore, the trial court was correct in not applying the time rule to the DA Plan.
As to part 111(A), I write to point out that while I agree we should affirm the magistrate judge’s division of the FB Plan, I would do so by distinguishing the cases in which it is appropriate for the trial court to employ the time rule and those such as this one where it is appropriate for the trial court to employ the accrued benefit method.
In Ramsey and Beesley, the retirement benefits at issue were vested military pensions. In Shill I and II, the benefits at issue were provided through the Idaho Firemen’s Retirement Fund and had not vested during the marriage. The Court approved the use of the time rule in Ramsey and Beesley. The Court’s discussion in Shill I is consistent with the approval of the use of the time rule in Ramsey. The record in Shill II indicates that the trial court on remand following this Court’s decisión in Shill I used the time rule to apportion the retirement benefits. The issue of the propriety of the use of the time rule was not raised on appeal in Shill II.
In my view, because of the prominent role that the length of service plays in the determination of vested military retirement benefits and in the determination of the right to benefits under retirement systems such as the Idaho Firemen’s Retirement Fund, the time rule remains an appropriate means of apportioning benefits or rights in those cases. We confront a different situation, however, when we address the apportionment of defined or fixed benefits provided under private employer retirement plans. In these plans there are several variables that make the apportionment more complicated.
In this case, the magistrate used the accrued benefit method of apportioning the vested benefits that were earned by Mr. Maslen during his marriage to Mrs. Maslen. This method appropriately took into account not only the length of service, but also average earnings, and the calculation of benefits on early retirement at both the date of marriage and the date of divorce. Use of the time rule for apportioning the type of retirement benefits provided under the FB Plan would not have correctly identified the variables that measure the portion of the benefits earned by Mr. Maslen during the marriage.