Johnson and Zoric were married for ten years. At the time of the divorce (1984), Johnson
was and E-5 in the Air Force. In 1999,
Johnson retired and began receiving his pension and Zoric filed a QDRO to
divide the pension. The Trial court
awarded Zoric her portion based on Johnson’s E-7 level, which was his pay level
at the time of retirement. The trial
court also ordered that Zoric’s portion be awarded prior to all other
deductions giving her an even greater amount of the pension. Johnson appealed. Johnson also argued that Zoric’s QDRO was
filed too long after the decree and violated the statute of limitations.
The Court of Appeals in a divided (2-1) decision affirmed the trial court’s award at the
E-7 pay grade. The Court of Appeals
found that such an award a direct application of the Woodward
formula. See page 433 of Woodward.
Trial court divided the number of years in service during the marriage (10)
divided by the total number of years to accrue the benefit (24) and awarded
Zoric 20.8% of the retirement.
The Court of Appeals reversed
and remanded with instructions to recalculate Zoric’s potion after the
deduction of taxes. The trial court was
instructed that it must only divide disposable retirement.
As to the issue of the statute of limitations (SOL), the Court of
Appeals affirmed finding that the SOL
does not begin to run until be the payment is due. Because QDRO was filed within SOL it was
enforceable.
Davis Dissent: Would divide pension and award only a portion of E-5 to Zoric. Also believes that the appellate court should review the matter under a matter of law standard and not abuse of discretion standard.
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