Court Opinion

ID: 9515398
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:56:16.966894+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:28.914204
License: Public Domain

SABERS, Justice
(dissenting).
[¶ 21.] If the majority opinion has its facts right, the trial court’s decision in this case is plain error and we should reverse and remand until it is done right.
1. Lowe’s net worth decreased from $865,000 to $80,000, a total of $285,000 after Schwartz’s retirement from the Coast Guard.
2. Her income went from $101,098 in 1997 to being self-employed, selling “beanie babies and beads” over the internet after her heart attack in June 2000.
3. The trial court awarded her the grand sum of $135 per month alimony even though Schwartz was earning at least $2,200 per month as a truck driver and collecting $1,359 per month from Coast Guard retirement, a total of $3,559 per month or $42,708 per year.
4. The $135 per month alimony was only 10 percent of Schwartz’s Coast Guard retirement and only S.79 percent of his total monthly income.
[¶ 22.] Maybe this result is the fault of Lowe’s trial attorney, as the majority opinion suggests, but the trial court’s decision is a total injustice, plain error, and an abuse of discretion and we should have no part of it except to reverse.
[¶ 23.] We should reverse and remand for the trial court to do it over until it is done right.