Boatfield v. Boatfield
Boatfield v. Boatfield
Opinion of the Court
*718Wife appeals a general judgment of dissolution and a supplemental judgment awarding spousal support, asserting five assignments of error. The primary disputes on appeal concern the spousal support and life insurance awards. We reject wife's other three assignments of error without further discussion. We conclude that the trial court failed to make sufficient findings to support its spousal support award and its decision not to require husband to purchase life insurance, *38leaving us unable to determine whether those determinations were "just and equitable" under ORS 107.105(1)(d). Accordingly, we reverse and remand for the trial court to make the appropriate findings and to reconsider the spousal support and life insurance awards, and otherwise affirm.
Wife requests de novo review; however, because this is not an exceptional case, we decline to exercise our discretion to apply such review. See ORS 19.415(3)(b) (stating that we have discretion to apply de novo review in equitable actions); ORAP 5.40(8)(c) (stating that we will exercise that discretion only in exceptional cases). Accordingly, because we decline to review the facts de novo , we are bound by a trial court's findings of historical fact if there is any evidence in the record to support them. Berg and Berg ,
Wife sought an award of $ 2,000 per month in indefinite spousal support and a requirement for husband to maintain $ 300,000 in life insurance naming wife as the beneficiary for as long as he had an obligation to pay spousal support. The court awarded wife $ 1,050 per month in transitional support for 12 years and made no life insurance award. Over the course of the proceedings, the court made the following findings relevant to the issue of spousal support:
"[Wife] is 47 years of age and husband is 48 years of age. Both of the parties are in apparent good health with no health problems sufficient to keep them from being fully *719and gainfully employed. The parties were married in 1984 when she was 19 and he was 21. She did not graduate from high school. The parties have two adult children. [Wife] has been a homemaker1 with some employment, usually at unskilled labor jobs. [Wife] has not had significant employment in a number of years and this Court finds she is underemployed. Husband has been steadily employed since the time of the marriage now working for Ford Motor Company for the last 22 years as a warehouse supervisor."
"The Court would indicate that, as stated in the original letter, this Court believes [wife] is underemployed. She has made no significant effort to find employment or to otherwise offset the parties' debt during the entire time of this dissolution of marriage case."
"[Husband]'s spousal support was and always has been transitional support and is NOT maintenance support."[2 ]
"The Court's intention was [husband] would pay support until his age 60 to allow him to retire shortly thereafter and no longer be paying spousal support. * * * [He] should be paying transitional support to [wife] to allow her the opportunity to develop some income-generating skills of her own and to transition to that situation over a long period of time."
The court found the following on the issue of life insurance:
"[Wife] has asked for a $ 300,000.00 life insurance policy to guarantee the payment of spousal support to her from [husband], but has not provided the Court with the cost of that policy, or any information except a number. * * *. Given the significant debt of the parties, this Court declines * * * to require [husband] to provide life insurance, in any amount, without further information. [Wife] is invited to provide that information to the Court * * *."
On appeal, wife argues that the trial court's spousal support award was not "just and equitable" as required by ORS 107.105(1)(d), given the length of the marriage and *720the disparity in the parties' incomes and earning capacities. She also challenges *39the court's failure to require husband to secure his spousal support obligation with a life insurance policy.
We review for abuse of discretion the trial court's conclusions regarding spousal support and life insurance awards and will not disturb a trial court's determination unless the court misapplied the statutory and equitable considerations required by the statute permitting these awards. Mitchell and Mitchell ,
A court in a dissolution proceeding may order "spousal support, an amount of money for a period of time as may be just and equitable for one party to contribute to the other, in gross or in installments or both." ORS 107.105(1)(d). As part of a spousal support determination, a court "shall designate one or more categories of spousal support and shall make findings of the relevant factors in the decision." ORS 107.105(1)(d) (emphasis added).
Spousal maintenance support is one category of spousal support, and its purpose is to "allow[ ] one financially able spouse to contribute to the support of the other, depending on the financial needs and resources of each party." Abrams and Abrams ,
Here, the court failed to explain or make a record of its reasoning for denying maintenance support. See Olson and Olson ,
Moreover, the court failed to properly consider all of the relevant factors in its decision to deny maintenance support. See Abrams ,
Transitional spousal support is another category of spousal support, and it "is typically awarded when one spouse has been out of the workforce for an extended period of time and needs education or on-the-job training to prepare for reentry into the job market." Stuart and Ely ,
Here, the court's findings are not sufficient to support its decision to award transitional support in the amount of $ 1,050 per month for 12 years. The court's sole basis to support its decision regarding the amount and duration of transitional support was "to allow [husband] to retire shortly thereafter and no longer * * * pay[ ] spousal support" and "to allow [wife] the opportunity to develop some income-generating skills of her own and to transition to that situation over a long period of time." However, there is no evidence of when husband will actually retire.
Additionally, nothing in the record provides an evidentiary basis for a nexus between the duration of transitional support ordered (12 years) and the two and a half years that wife testified it will take her to retrain. We therefore reverse and remand for the trial court to consider the appropriate *41factors and make an appropriate record, in determining transitional support.
We turn to wife's challenge to the court's failure to order husband to carry life insurance naming wife as beneficiary until husband's spousal support obligation is fulfilled.
*724As with a spousal support award, the court must explain its findings for awards of life insurance. See Mitchell ,
Reversed and remanded for reconsideration of spousal support and life insurance awards; otherwise affirmed.
The uncontested facts indicate that wife stayed home to raise their children by the parties' mutual agreement.
There were several letter opinions and supplemental judgments entered in this case. One judgment included maintenance support. A subsequent judgment excluded maintenance support, providing only the explanation indicated in this quotation.
The record indicates that if husband retains his current job, he will be eligible to retire in 12 years.
Our standard of review was controlled by a prior version of ORS 19.415(3), which required de novo review of domestic relations cases.
ORS 107.820(2) provides:
"If the party ordered to pay support or a share of a pension or retirement plan has no life insurance policy naming as beneficiary the party ordered to receive either support or a share of a pension or retirement plan, or if an existing policy is inadequate to cover the obligation, the court in a judgment may order that the party ordered to pay shall purchase a life insurance policy naming as beneficiary the party ordered to receive the support or a share of a pension or retirement plan and that the obligated party shall pay premiums on the policy and keep the policy in force until the obligation ends. The obligated spouse has the option of obtaining a nonreducing term life insurance policy or any other type of policy in lieu of using existing policies."
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.