Granger v. Granger

2016 UT App 117, 374 P.3d 1043, 813 Utah Adv. Rep. 15, 2016 WL 3033563, 2016 Utah App. LEXIS 112
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedMay 26, 2016
Docket20140196-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 2016 UT App 117 (Granger v. Granger) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Granger v. Granger, 2016 UT App 117, 374 P.3d 1043, 813 Utah Adv. Rep. 15, 2016 WL 3033563, 2016 Utah App. LEXIS 112 (Utah Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Amended Opinion 1

ROTH, Judge:

1 Cindy D. Granger (Wife) appeals several rulings of the district court in a divorce proceeding. Troy M. Granger (Husband) cross-appeals, challenging the court's denial of his request for attorney fees, We reverse and remand to the district court for further fact finding regarding the distribution of Husband's 401(k) retirement account and for entry of appropriate findings to support its decision on the issue of attorney fees.

BACKGROUND

12 Husband and Wife married in 20083. Husband filed for divorce in April 2011. In his petition for divorcee, Husband requested that any retirement accounts be divided in accordance with the Woodward formula. See generally Woodward v. Woodward, 656 P.2d 431, 433-34 (Utah 1982). Wife responded that any retirement benefits should be "equitably divided."

13 Before trial, both parties submitted trial briefs. Wife's brief stated, "Retirement accounts shall be divided pursuant to the Woodward formula." Husband's brief also requested division of retirement benefits according to the Woodward formula. Husband's brief proposed the amount he believed Wife was entitled to under the formula. However, as with a different figure Husband had provided in an earlier settlement proposal, the number was not accompanied by any explanation of how it had been calculated. -

T4 In July 2018, the district court held a two-day trial. During opening statements and closing arguments, counsel for both Husband and Wife said that the retirement accounts should be divided according to the Woodward formula, There was no further discussion regarding the Woodward formula or the division of the retirement accounts during the trial, The district court entered its findings of fact, conclusions of law, and order on September 8, 2018. In its findings of fact, the court referenced the retirement accounts once, noting that "[the parties stipulated to the division of their retirement accounts pursuant to the Woodward formula" 2 It also ordered Husband's counsel to prepare the final decree of divorce, later signed on October 18, 2018. Following the court's order, contentions between Husband and Wife over issues unrelated to this appeal continued for months.

15 On January 28, 2014, Husband's counsel sent Wife's counsel a copy of the qualified domestic relations order (the QDRO 3 ), which *1046 he proposed to file with the dlstnct court to implement division of the retirement account. In an email accompanying the document, Husband's counsel explained that "the- retirement will be divided according to the Woodward formula" and, for the first time, he provided a mathematical calculation showing "how [he] arrived at the amount set forth in the QDRO." ~ Wife's counsel responded by email later that same day, stating, "I am not sure how the figure ... was arrived at{,] but that is completely wrong." Wife's. counsel continued, "This is not working out, I simply suggest that I will draft [the] QDRO[] based upon the Woodward formula" Husband's counsel responded that the calculation he used was based on the Woodward formu-13, explaining that he one-half of the value of the account by thé number of years the parties were married and divide[d] by the number of years [Husband] has worked." Wife's counsel responded that the calculation Husband's counsel used was "wrong" and insisted that counsel should have "simply divide[d] what was acqulred durmg the marriage."

16 Wife filed an objection to the QDRO as well as a motion under rule 60(b) of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure to set aside or clarify the divorce decree. Wife also provided notice that she was lssumg a subpoena to obtain records from the plan administrator of Husband's ° retirement account,. - Husband filed a response to Wife's objection to the QDRO and rule 60(b) motion and also moved to quash the subpoena. The district court granted Husband's motion to quash and set a hearing on both Wife's rule 60(b) motion to set aside the divorce decree -and her obJection to the QDRO.

At the hearing, Wife's counsel stated,

I will admit that I stipulated to the Woodward formula. The problem that I've always had, and I guess I've had different results from all of the [clourts is basically it's always been my understanding the Woodward formula basically means you just divide whatever contributions 'were made to the retirement during the marriage. | |, 8 =_

Wife's counsel explained that he "never intended to use this formula of doing the number of years" but that he believed the actual mathematical formula set forth in Woodward applied only to defined benefit plans and not to defined contribution plans such as Husband's 401(k) retirement account. - Husband's counsel argued that Wife's agreement to the Woodward formula was a "one-sided mistake"-if there was a mistake made at all-made entirely by Wife "because the Woodward formula has been around for 82 years" and "the formula is clear."

¶ 8 The district court took the matter under advisement and issued a-written ruling in March 2014 denying Wife's rule 60(b) motion to get aside or clarify the divorce decree and her objection to the QDRO. The court determined that "the Rule 60 motion was not filed in a timely fashion, and although [Wife's] counsel may not agree with it; the Woodward formula does not require clarification. Moreover, [Husband's] settlement proposal and trial brief each set forth the caleu-lation being proposed, so it does not appear that [Wife] was unaware of what she was stipulating to when she agreed to a division ' of retirement contributions."

9 On appeal, both Husband and Wife agree that as of the date of divorce, the balance of Husband's retirement account was $591,938.64. But it is from this figure that Husband and Wife diverge, The QDRO prepared by Husband and signed by the district court divided this figure by two, multiplied the result by the number of years the parties ware martied (10.5 years), and then divided that result by the number of years Husband worked (18.8 years). Husband therefore concluded that $165,802.01 represents Wife's portion of the retirement account under the Woodward formula,. 'Wife asserts that the $591,938.64 account' balance should be reduced by Husband's premarital. contributions of $193,526.04, leaving $898,412.60, which should then be divided equally with Husband *1047 and Wife each receiving $199,206.80. Wife claims that "pursuant to Woodward," "the portion of the retirement account accumulated during the marriage shall be equally divided" between her and Husband because "Itlo do otherwise ..:. creates an injustice and inequity that was never intended by the Woodward Court." Wife asserts on appeal that it was only in January 2014, when she reviewed < Husband's proposed QDRO in which Husband provided the actual calculations used to determine the final figure he believed was Wife's share of the retirement account, that "it became apparent that the parties intended different results [from] the division of the retirement account pursuant to Woodward" because "there was a serious misapplication and/or interpretation of the 'Woodward formuls' " by Husband.

ISSUES AND STANDARDS OF REVIEW

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Waxies Enterprises v. Labor Commission
2025 UT App 7 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2025)
Janson v. Janson
2019 UT App 106 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2019)
Lindsey v. Lindsey
2017 UT App 38 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2017)
Smith v. Henley
65 V.I. 179 (Superior Court of The Virgin Islands, 2016)
Thayer v. Thayer
2016 UT App 146 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2016)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2016 UT App 117, 374 P.3d 1043, 813 Utah Adv. Rep. 15, 2016 WL 3033563, 2016 Utah App. LEXIS 112, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/granger-v-granger-utahctapp-2016.