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Springer v. Springer11/8/2005
(Not Designated for Permanent Publication)
Inbody, Chief Judge, and Irwin and Moore, Judges.
INTRODUCTION
Mary S. Springer appeals the February 19, 2004, decree of the Douglas County District Court dissolving her marriage to Gregory J. Springer. She contends that the district court erred in its distribution of Gregory's pension fund and in its failure to award her alimony. For the reasons set forth herein, we affirm.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
Mary and Gregory were married on October 4, 1986. Two children were born of the marriage: a daughter, born January 26, 1988, and a son, born January 17, 1990. During the marriage, both parties were employed. Gregory was a member of the steamfitters union and contributed to the Steamfitters Union Pension Fund for 24 years, 17 years of which were during the parties' marriage.
On November 26, 2002, Mary filed a petition for dissolution. Trial was held on November 17, 2003. The only contested issue was the division of Gregory's steamfitters union pension benefits.
The evidence established that Mary was born on January 27, 1960. Gregory's date of birth is not contained in our record. At the time of the trial, Mary had been employed at Blue Cross Blue Shield for nearly 6 years and she was earning a gross monthly income of $2,439.
Following a heart attack in August 2000, Gregory sought to receive a disability pension. Gregory receives benefit payments from the pension fund of $1,353 per month. As part of the application for benefits, an election was made that the payout would be made on the basis of joint and survivor benefits with Mary's receiving half of Gregory's monthly benefit payments after his death. Gregory's monthly benefit payments would have been $1,759 if the election for joint and survivor benefits had not been made.
Gregory receives $1,698 in Social Security disability payments and $1,353 from the pension fund, for a total monthly gross income of $3,051. His total monthly net income is $2,761.21. Mary receives the minor children's Social Security disability payments of $424 each. Mary testified that her total monthly net income, including the children's disability payments, is between $2,600 and $2,700.
On February 19, 2004, the district court filed the dissolution decree. The court denied Mary's request for alimony. Further, with regard to Gregory's pension, the court found that "once [Gregory] became disabled and started collecting permanent total disability . . . his asset which he had in the union pension fund became stream of income and lost its character as a divisible asset." The district court stated that if Mary is entitled to any form of compensation from Gregory's fund, the compensation is through her designation as the survivor beneficiary--which designation is irrevocable. Further, the court stated that in order to provide Mary with the survivor benefits, which designation was at Mary's request, Gregory receives $406.50 less in monthly benefit payments than he would otherwise receive had the beneficiary designation not been made. Mary has timely appealed to this court.
ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR
On appeal, Mary contends that the district court erred (1) in failing to find that Gregory's pension fund should be included as part of the marital estate and to award Mary her share and (2) in failing to award Mary a specific amount of alimony in connection with the distribution of the pension fund.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
In actions for dissolution of marriage, an appellate court reviews the case de novo on the record to determine whether there has been an abuse of discretion by the tr
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