Court Opinion

ID: 9687019
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:13:58.583503+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:50:59.902514
License: Public Domain

VOGEL, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent from the modification of the property division ordered by the trial court. I am not convinced that an error was made by the trial court. On the contrary, I think the trial court’s decision is eminently correct and the majority’s is wrong.
I agree entirely with Justice Pederson’s remarks, and have some of my own to add.
I. EARNING ABILITY AND WORTH OF HOUSEWIFE
The so-called “Fischer guidelines”1 include as one of the matters to be considered *667the earning ability of the parties. The majority, in purporting to discuss earning ability, turns the whole concept upside down. To me, it is obvious that we must consider earning power of the parties in order to make allowances to the party who has the smaller earning power. But the majority opinion refers to the higher earning ability of the husband here as a reason for giving him a larger share because “his earnings have been mainly responsible for the accumulation of the parties’ property during the marriage” ! Such reasoning magnifies inequity instead of reducing it.
Wives usually have less earning power than husbands. They get no wages for cooking, cleaning, and caring for children. If they had earning ability before marriage, it withers away from lack of employment or from being used only in part-time jobs. In the meantime, husbands gain experience, seniority, and better pay. Without the wife at home to take care of the household, the husband would be unable to obtain the earning ability he has. The fact is that the employed spouse’s earning power is often the most valuable single asset of the marriage, and the other spouse contributes equally to its acquisition.
Some supreme courts have recognized the worth of the work the wife does, although ours gives wives little credit. In Wisconsin it is recognized that the contribution of a full-time homemaker may be considered greater than, or at least as great as, that of a working spouse. Wilberscheid v. Wilberscheid, 77 Wis.2d 40, 252 N.W.2d 76 (1977). In the view of that court, it makes little difference that one spouse works outside the home and the other within — Wisconsin considers the marital union as a partnership. We should do likewise.
Coming now to the case before us, the earning ability of the husband rose from $25,750 in 1973 to $31,750 in 1975. The wife’s earning ability is $7,692 per year ($641 per month). Even if we take $25,000 as the husband’s earning ability and reduce it by $300 per month for alimony, he still will have $21,400 per year compared to her $7,692, or about $13,700 more income per year.
The trial court awarded her property valued at $69,088 and to him property valued at $13,524, a difference of $55,564. At $13,-700 per year he can make up the difference in about four years, or by the time he is 43 years of age, with no wife or dependents.
I do not understand how this is inequitable or unfair to him.
The majority opinion is far worse. It gives a difference of only $21,000 in the property division, which the husband can make up out of his higher earning ability in about a year and a half. That is inequitable to her.
II. FAULT
So far, I have not even mentioned the concept of fault, called “conduct of the parties” in the Ruff-Fischer guidelines. As I have indicated above and in a dissent in Hegge v. Hegge, 236 N.W.2d 910 (N.D.1975), and in a concurring in part/dissenting in part opinion in Hultberg v. Hultberg, 259 N.W.2d 41 (N.D.1977), I believe that this court, which put in fault as a matter to be considered in making property divisions, should take it out and should consider property matters in divorce cases as we would consider property matters in dissolving a partnership.
Be that as it may, the majority, which says that fault should be considered, has given me no evidence that it has done so. The fault in this case, according to the trial judge (and the majority does not contradict him), is entirely that of the husband. Then where is the punishment he is to receive for his fault? Certainly not in the property division which I have already discussed.
I think the time has come to analyze how the concept of fault has been applied in property division in this court in the past, ever since the Ruff case was decided in 1952. There are approximately 30 cases which have referred to the Ruff-Fischer *668guidelines since then. Without taking the space to list them all, I assert that an analysis of the opinions will show that in North Dakota:
(1) If the husband is at fault, he will get half or more of the property [for example, Ruff, supra, and Fischer, supra].
(2) If the wife is at fault, she will get little or nothing [for example, Hegge v. Hegge, supra (even limited alimony taken from her), and Ferguson v. Ferguson, 202 N.W.2d 760 (N.D.1972)].
(3) If both are at fault, the division will be approximately equal [Bellon v. Bellon, 213 N.W.2d 376 (N.D.1973), and Larson v. Larson, 234 N.W.2d 861 (N.D.1975)], or the wife may get somewhat less than half [Grant v. Grant, 226 N.W.2d 358 (N.D.1975)].
Of these three categories, the third one is the only one I could consider as equitable (if fault is considered, as the majority says it must be).
For this state of affairs I assign no blame. Some of the reasons may be historical. Trial courts have tried to follow our direction, and we have tried to give their rulings the respect due them under Rule 52(a), N.D.R.Civ.P. Regardless of causes, the results are not felicitous.
III. PROPERTY DIVISION v. ALIMONY
The majority opinion indicates that alimony is a substitute for division of property. Sad experience indicates to me that it is not. Alimony (unless specifically ordered otherwise) ends when either party dies, or the wife remarries. In other words, the wife loses her share of the accumulation during the marriage if she remarries, and her heirs lose it when she dies. This is scarcely just. Furthermore, much alimony ordered to be paid never is paid, and less and less is paid as the years roll by. Earnings drop and people move away or hide, and collecting alimony across State lines is even more frustrating than intrastate.
The Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act, which is the product of the most thorough examination of the actualities of divorce law in recent years, takes the view that property division, to the extent possible, should be “the primary means of providing for the future financial needs of the spouses.” 9 Uniform Laws Annot., Master Ed., p. 457.
By making appropriate divisions of property, courts can be sure that each party gets his or her share of the marital property. If alimony is awarded, there is no certainty that it will be paid.
CONCLUSION
For all these reasons, as well as having a proper respect for Rule 52(a), N.D.R.Civ.P., I would affirm the decision of the district court.
One last note: As I indicated, I believe this court should rescind its court-created consideration of (or lip-service to) the concept of fault as one of the grounds for division of property (and also as one of the grounds for granting custody, except to the extent that the misconduct affects the ability to care for children, but I leave that question for another day).
If this court refuses to take this step (which should be taken for reasons which I have stated in this dissent and in the dissent in Hegge, supra, and in the concurrence/dissent in Hultberg, supra), then the Legislature should take action to implement what it thought it was doing when it adopted the law on irreconcilable differences (see my concurrence/dissent in Hultberg, supra).
Only by some such action can we bring North Dakota divorce law into the twentieth century, and begin to regard marital breakdown as something to be recognized and treated as painlessly and considerately as possible, and not as an occasion for gladiatorial combat.

. The body of the opinion in Fischer v. Fischer, 139 N.W.2d 845 (N.D.1966), copies the guidelines from Ruff v. Ruff, 78 N.D. 775, 52 N.W.2d 107 (1952), but the syllabus adds the words “and such other matters as may be material.” Ruff took its language from Nebraska cases. See Ruff, 52 N.W.2d at 111-112.