Dale-Wozniak v. Wozniak

2019 WI App 15, 927 N.W.2d 167, 386 Wis. 2d 353
CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedFebruary 20, 2019
DocketAppeal No. 2018AP1173
StatusPublished

This text of 2019 WI App 15 (Dale-Wozniak v. Wozniak) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dale-Wozniak v. Wozniak, 2019 WI App 15, 927 N.W.2d 167, 386 Wis. 2d 353 (Wis. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

¶1 Roberta Dale-Wozniak appeals an order denying her motion for relief from a judgment terminating her marriage to Bruce Wozniak. She also appeals an order denying her motion for reconsideration. Roberta argues the circuit court erroneously exercised its discretion by denying both of her motions. We reject her arguments and affirm.

BACKGROUND

¶2 Roberta and Bruce were married in October 1998. It was Roberta's first marriage, and Bruce's second. No children were born of the marriage. Roberta petitioned for legal separation in November 2015, and Bruce later counter-petitioned for divorce.

¶3 A final divorce hearing took place on October 28, 2016. At the time of the hearing, Roberta was forty-four years old, and Bruce was sixty. Roberta had a law degree but was not practicing law; she was instead employed part time at a church. Bruce was employed as a state trooper.

¶4 Bruce also began receiving a military pension in October 2016. It is undisputed that Bruce left active duty military service in 1992, as part of the Voluntary Separation Incentive (VSI) Program. Under the VSI Program, Bruce was entitled to receive annual payments of $ 15,000 until 2020. However, in 2005-during the parties' marriage-Bruce was recruited to re-enlist in the Army National Guard due to an increased need for personnel. Bruce testified that, as a result of his decision to reenlist, he was required to repay all of the VSI payments he received via a forty percent reduction in his military pension payments.

¶5 During the final divorce hearing, the parties presented the circuit court with a signed marital settlement agreement (MSA) addressing maintenance and property division. The MSA provided that Bruce would make an equalization payment of $ 57,000 to Roberta. It further provided that Roberta would receive $ 300 per month from Bruce's military pension and would receive half of the marital portion of Bruce's state retirement benefits. In addition, Bruce agreed to provide Roberta with a survivor benefit that would, in the event of his death, grant her a portion of his military pension for the remainder of her lifetime. Both parties agreed to waive maintenance.

¶6 In his financial disclosure statement, which was submitted on the day of the final hearing, Bruce represented that he "anticipated" receiving monthly military pension payments of $ 1469.40 "after VSI reduction." (Italics omitted.) He acknowledged during the hearing that his first pension check-the only one he had received as of that date-did not include a VSI deduction. However, he characterized that omission as an "error." Roberta did not raise any concerns about the MSA during the final hearing, even after learning that Bruce's first pension payment did not include a VSI deduction. The circuit court accepted the MSA, concluding it was fair and equitable, and incorporated it into the parties' divorce judgment.

¶7 On October 26, 2017-just under one year after the final hearing-Roberta moved for relief from the divorce judgment under WIS. STAT. § 806.07 (2017-18).1 She alleged she had discovered three things after the final hearing that warranted reopening the divorce judgment. First, Roberta asserted that no VSI deductions were taken from Bruce's monthly pension payments until July 2017, meaning that Bruce received his full pension for eight months after the final hearing. Second, Roberta alleged she had discovered that Bruce's VSI debt would be paid off in approximately sixty-three months, and the VSI deductions from his pension income were therefore temporary rather than permanent. Third, Roberta contended Bruce's "net pay" from his military pension was actually $ 1655.66 per month instead of $ 1469.40-the amount of "anticipated" pension income he had listed on his financial disclosure statement.

¶8 Roberta argued this new information showed that Bruce's pension income was much greater than she believed it would be at the time of the final hearing. She further argued that, had she been aware of this information at the time of the hearing, she would not have agreed to accept only $ 300 per month from Bruce's pension. She therefore asked the circuit court for relief from the divorce judgment based on mistake, inadvertence, or excusable neglect, see WIS. STAT. § 806.07(1)(a) ; fraud, misrepresentation, or other misconduct, see § 806.07(1)(c) ; because it was no longer equitable for the divorce judgment to have prospective application, see § 806.07(1)(g) ; and because extraordinary circumstances justified relief in the interest of justice, see § 806.07(1)(h). Specifically, she asked the court to either increase the amount she received from Bruce's military pension or to reopen the issue of maintenance.

¶9 The circuit court denied Roberta's motion for relief from the divorce judgment, following a hearing at which both Roberta and Bruce testified. The court explained:

The Court finds that both parties were in command of the same information regarding [Bruce's] military retirement pay at the time of the final divorce hearing. Further, the record is clear that [Roberta] had researched the topic and made a free, voluntary and knowing waiver of any claim to maintenance. Finally, the Court finds that the actual net benefit received by [Bruce] is not materially different than the benefit that was estimated at the time of the [final divorce] hearing and that he did not misrepresent the facts. Therefore, the agreement was not the result of misrepresentation, fraud, or omission. Likewise, there were no mistakes of fact made on October 28, 2016. Both parties had the same information available to them and relied on the same information in making the decision to waive maintenance.

¶10 Roberta moved for reconsideration, arguing the circuit court made manifest errors of fact when it found that: (1) there was no mistake of fact regarding the amount of Bruce's pension payments; and (2) the net benefit Bruce received was not materially different from what the parties anticipated at the time of the final hearing. The court denied Roberta's motion, stating she had "not submitted newly discovered evidence or established a manifest error of law or fact." The court further stated it "[stood] by the reasoning expressed in" its order denying relief from the divorce judgment. Roberta now appeals, challenging both the court's order denying her motion for relief from the divorce judgment and its order denying reconsideration.

DISCUSSION

I. Motion for relief from judgment

¶11 We will not reverse a circuit court's order denying a motion for relief from judgment under WIS. STAT. § 806.07 unless the court erroneously exercised its discretion. Hottenroth v. Hetsko , 2006 WI App 249, ¶33, 298 Wis. 2d 200, 727 N.W.2d 38. A court properly exercises its discretion when it examines the relevant facts, applies the correct standard of law, and uses a rational process to reach a reasonable conclusion. Randall v. Randall , 2000 WI App 98, ¶7, 235 Wis.

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Bluebook (online)
2019 WI App 15, 927 N.W.2d 167, 386 Wis. 2d 353, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dale-wozniak-v-wozniak-wisctapp-2019.