Separate Property Credit

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In its October 22, 2024, decision in Szypula v. Szypula, the Court of Appeals held that if marital funds are used to purchase premarital pension service credits, those premarital credits are marital property. But …

Mr. Szypula joined the Navy nine years before the parties married. He left the Navy two years later. The Court noted that, in general, members of the armed services become entitled to retirement pay only after they complete 20 years of service. Therefore, when the husband left the Navy, he was not entitled to retirement benefits.

After working in the private sector for 14 years, the husband joined the Foreign Service (diplomatic service personnel under the Department of State). The husband enrolled in the Foreign Service Pension System.

Veterans who enter the foreign service may add their years of military service to their Foreign Service pensions by making additional contributions for the years they served in the military. The husband purchased his 11 years of Navy service by having $9,158.00 withheld from his Foreign Service pay over seven years through 2018.

In 2019, the wife filed for divorce. The parties could not settle whether the husband’s purchased premarital pension credits were separate or marital property. After the nonjury trial, Tompkins County Supreme Court Justice Joseph A. McBride held the credits to be marital property.

The pension rights at issue in this case were the product of both his pre-marriage service and the contribution of marital assets.

The Appellate Division, Third Department, reversed, finding that the premarital credits were separate property. However, the Third Department held the funds used to purchase those credits were marital property to be equitably distributed.Continue Reading Premarital Pension Credits Purchased with Marital Funds are Marital Property, But …

Generally, it is the more “successful” spouse who submits the proposed judgment of divorce to the Court to be signed and entered. In all events, a spouse who intends to take an appeal on an issue must make sure:

  • that the issue to be appealed is covered by the judgment;
  • or an appeal is taken

…

Please indulge me; it’s one of my pet issues. And I apologize in advance for what may be my most boring blog post to date.

Writing math narratively is very difficult. When drafting a divorce settlement agreement, I try to include examples whenever formulas are written out. When reading decisions, I often draw a flow chart to help me follow the calculations.

Calculations done by the court establish rules of law. When an appellate court does it, that’s the way it’s going to be done in all cases like that in the future. All the more reason that the reader be able to follow and understand the calculations made by the court. For each calculation, you need to know how much went from where to where and why.

Sometimes, I can’t follow those calculations made by the court. Take the February 26, 2020 decision of the Second Department in Alliger-Bograd v. Bograd. The Court modified the equitable distribution credits awarded by retired Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Carol MacKenzie; reducing from $81,829.15 to $23,350.00 the amount to be paid by a husband to the wife, in addition to the wife acquiring the husband’s interest in the marital residence.

I am not sure whether the decision provides all the numbers used to get to the final result. The marital residence being acquired by the wife was worth $545,000.00 There was a mortgage and a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) that totaled $321,000.00. At first look, there was $224,000.00 in equity.Continue Reading Math in Divorce Decisions: How Much Goes from Where to Where and Why?