Court Opinion

ID: 9689292
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 18:27:05.291114+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:46.735206
License: Public Domain

M. F. Cavanagh, P.J.
(concurring). I concur with the conclusions expressed in my brother Bronson’s opinion. I do so separately so as not to be interpreted as ignoring plaintiffs job seniority in the distribution of the marital assets. While I am in agreement that seniority is not an asset like the medical degree in Moss v Moss, 80 Mich App 693; 264 NW2d 97 (1978), lv den 402 Mich 946 (1978), it nonetheless is a factor to be considered in the distribution of marital assets and/or the award of alimony.
More than 30 years previously, these parties entered into this marriage contract with the understanding that the husband would work and improve his job skills and income earning capacity while the wife maintained the household and primarily raised and cared for the children. While I agree with my brother that plaintiffs seniority was not a product of learning new skills which required full-time pursuit of formal education, it nonetheless was acquired to no small degree by virtue of defendant’s willingness to abide by the arrangement and remove herself from the job market. Now, some 30 years later, this arrangement is to be terminated but the parties are far removed from the equal footing they enjoyed at the outset of this contractual arrangement. Defendant’s lack of job skills and experience, her age, and her general absence from the job market mandate that plaintiffs corresponding job seniority be included in the equation which ultimately terminates this contract. As our ultimate disposition of this case on appeal arrives at an equitable disposition encompassing the foregoing concern, I concur.