Court Opinion

ID: 9741068
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:49:02.051019+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:22.109139
License: Public Domain

VOGEL, Justice
(dissenting).
I dissent because I am not “left with a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed” by the trial court. I fear a mistake is being made by the majority.
The Hegge marriage was star-crossed from its inception. The husband was 26 years old, a college graduate with two bachelor’s degrees, and employed as a research chemist. The wife was 19, working as a waitress, and a high school graduate. She had started a course intended to train her to become a dental assistant. Upon marriage, she dropped her plans for education, but never lost her desire for education. Because of a lack of funds, pregnancies, small children, and distance from educational institutions at various times, she was unable to pursue her education, even in the area of hobbies. Her husband once refused to let her take a 13-dollar knitting course. For years, the parties have had little or no communication, sexual or otherwise. Such social life as the wife had, including church activities, she had to arrange for herself. Her husband had none.
Nine years after marriage, the marriage a shambles, one child dead and the other taken from her, the wife has no marketable skill, except as a barmaid. Without alimony she could not afford to go back to school to learn to be anything but a barmaid.
True, she is greatly responsible (perhaps entirely responsible, although I doubt it) for the breakup of the marriage. But she has made some contributions to her husband’s career. She took care of the children — all the witnesses admitted that she was a good mother except for her absences, and even while absent she made sure that a babysitter or her husband would be at home to care for the children. She worked for about six months during the marriage, at wages up to $700 per month. She cooked her husband’s meals and took care of the houses in which they lived. It was not her fault, any more than his, that they were incompatible.
The only substantial asset acquired by either party during the marriage is the increased earning power of the husband. It cannot be sold for a lump sum, but it has a great value.1 The wife contributed to its acquisition. There is nothing unfair about requiring him to make a reciprocal contribution toward her acquisition of a similar asset.
In an enormously difficult situation, I think the trial judge made a wise determination. If this court were to sustain his decision, as I think we should, the wife could go to school and make something of her shattered life. The husband, who has the earning ability to do so, could assist her for four years without great hardship and then be free of obligation. The decision of the majority of this court, reversing the award of alimony, probably will have the effect of depriving her of any further education and forcing her to continue in her present employment.
Alimony or installment payments on property settlements during the period *920when an ex-wife trains herself for a better-paying occupation is not a new idea. Morgan v. Morgan, 81 Misc.2d 616, 366 N.Y.S.2d 977 (1975); Gregg v. Gregg, 193 Neb. 811, 229 N.W.2d 546 (1975). We approved a stipulation of the parties containing such a provision in Moran v. Moran, 200 N.W.2d 263 (N.D.1972), although the opinion refers to it only obliquely.
I would decline to follow the harsh ruling of Anderson v. Anderson, 68 N.W.2d 849 (N.D.1955), cited in the majority opinion. Although it might be distinguished on the basis that the appeal in Anderson was heard de novo, while in the present case we must hold that the findings of the trial judge were clearly erroneous in order to reverse (and in Anderson the husband had supported the three children of his wife by a former marriage, a factor we do not have here), I would prefer to simply abandon the Anderson rule. It is an anachronism in today’s world. Furthermore, it is based primarily upon the holding in a Florida case, Heath v. Heath, 103 Fla. 1071, 138 So. 796, 82 A.L.R. 537 (1932), which was compelled by a Florida statute — a statute which we do not have in this State. The statute dates back to 1828 [see dissent of Justice Roberts in Pacheco v. Pacheco, 246 So.2d 778, 782-783 (Fla.1971)], a time when wives were considered as scarcely better than chattels.
Since the Anderson case was decided, we have held at least twice that our power to grant property divisions and alimony exists regardless of which party is at fault. Halla v. Halla, 200 N.W.2d 271 (N.D.1972), and Agrest v. Agrest, 75 N.D. 318, 27 N.W.2d 697 (1947). I would adhere to this rule and jettison the rule of Anderson.
In its place, we should adopt the rule I have suggested above and hold that among the factors to be considered by the trial court in granting a property division or alimony are the relative earning power of the parties, the contribution of the wife toward any increased earning power of the husband during the marriage, and their relative economic position after divorce. This approach is supported by more modern decisions. In Diment v. Diment (Okl.Ct.App.1974), 531 P.2d 1071, 1073, the court stated:
“Without this award, [the wife] would be left with nothing to show for her contributions, financial or otherwise, to approximately eighteen years of marriage, which enabled the [ex-husband] to acquire a valuable college and medical school education that has greatly enhanced his earning capacity.”
In Morgan v. Morgan, supra, the court balanced many factors, including the parties’ financial status, their obligations, their ages, stations in life, and opportunities for development and self-fulfillment, and held that a wife who had dropped out of college to support the family while the husband finished his undergraduate work and law school was entitled to alimony while she resumed her education, instead of requiring her to go back to work as a secretary.
In Wintermyer v. Wintermyer, (Okl.1975), 1 Family Law Reporter 2388, 2389, the court put great weight on the fact that the husband had
“a valuable skill and a financially rewarding career. He [had] an earning capability of a minimum of $32,000 per year and a maximum of about $45,000 per year. She [had] little skill with an earning capability of $4,800 per year.”
The court found that both parties had worked hard and each had contributed in his or her own way to the marriage.
In Parsons v. Parsons, 68 Wis.2d 744, 229 N.W.2d 629, 634 (1975), the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that the contribution of a full-time homemaker-housewife to a marriage is as great as, or greater than, that of a wife employed outside the home.
As I have said, I believe the trial court in the present case made an entirely proper disposition of a difficult matter. I believe there was no error, clear or otherwise. I *921would affirm both the placement of custody in the father and the award of alimony to the mother. Since the majority reverses the trial court on the award of alimony, I dissent from that reversal.

. According to Table 22, Digest of Educational Statistics (1974), entitled “Annual Mean Income, Lifetime Income, and Educational Attainment of Men in the United States for Selected Years 1956-72,” the mean lifetime income of a 1972 male college graduate will be $711,000, while the mean lifetime income of a male with one or more years of graduate work will be $824,000.