In Re the Marriage of Hook

242 P.3d 697, 238 Or. App. 172, 2010 Ore. App. LEXIS 1266
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedOctober 27, 2010
Docket06C33821; A139210
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 242 P.3d 697 (In Re the Marriage of Hook) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re the Marriage of Hook, 242 P.3d 697, 238 Or. App. 172, 2010 Ore. App. LEXIS 1266 (Or. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

*174 BREWER, C. J.

Our task on appeal in this dissolution case is to determine whether the trial court erred in setting the amount and duration of the various components of spousal support — transitional, compensatory, and maintenance— that it awarded to wife. On de novo review, ORS 19.415(3) (2007), 1 we modify each component of the award in the respects described below.

The parties were married for 21 years, and they cohabited for more than a year before their marriage. At the time of trial, wife was 54 years old, husband was 56, and the parties’ minor children were 14 and 12 years of age. Wife was awarded custody of the children, and child support was set in the amount of $1,393 per month. Husband was awarded parenting time with the children. Those issues were not contested at trial, nor are they disputed on appeal.

At the time of the marriage, wife was employed as an occupational therapist and husband was an assistant psychology professor at a medical school. During the marriage, both parties became interested in attending medical school. Because husband was two years older, the parties decided that his education and career would take priority. So that he could attend school on a fast track, husband quit his job and began medical school in 1988. Wife applied to medical school a year later but was not accepted at that time.

The parties liquidated their assets and obtained loans for husband’s educational expenses, and they planned to repay the loans during the marriage. Over the course of his education, husband accumulated $113,000 in student loans, including his premarital loans. The parties also borrowed $20,000 from husband’s parents, and they liquidated husband’s retirement account, which was worth $21,000. The loan from husband’s parents was eventually forgiven.

Husband struggled academically in his first year of medical school and was placed in an alternative program that permitted him to take fewer courses at a time. As a result, *175 wife deferred her own plans to enter medical school and, instead, remained focused on taking responsibility for the family’s finances, including assuming the role of primary wage earner. Husband worked part-time as a research scientist during his first two years of medical school. Wife earned between $20,000 and $40,000 per year while husband was in medical school. In addition, wife ensured that husband had no distractions at home so that he could devote his full attention to study. Wife also researched and played a major role in selecting the Mayo Clinic as husband’s place of medical residency.

Because the parties’ first child was born prematurely in 1993, wife took five months off from work to care for him. When she returned to work, wife was able to secure only part-time employment. After husband graduated from medical school in 1994,. the parties moved to Minnesota so that husband could begin his residency work. Wife obtained new work there and continued her primary roles as wage earner, parent, and homemaker throughout husband’s residency. During that period, the parties’ second child was born. After a brief maternity leave, wife returned to work to continue supporting the family.

Husband finished his residency in 1997, and the parties moved to Oregon to advance his career. After the move, the parties decided that wife would become a full-time homemaker to care for their children. She continued to perform that role, remaining outside the employment work force, for nine years. Husband bought into a medical practice where he continues to work as a physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation. He also became a rehabilitation section chief and medical director for a hospital. Over time, husband used his practice income to pay the $42,545 purchase price for the medical practice.

After the parties moved to Oregon, husband’s parents, who each suffered from health problems, came to live with them. The parties bought a residence, and husband’s parents provided the parties with $40,000 to pay for remodeling expenses to accommodate their living needs. Husband’s mother lived with the parties for about one year, eventually *176 moving to a care facility after she suffered a stroke. Husband’s father lived with the parties until he passed away in 2005. Until they died, wife assisted husband’s parents with many of their needs to free husband from those concerns. After husband’s parents died, husband received an inheritance of $30,000, which the parties invested in their residence.

In 2005, wife obtained part-time employment as an occupational therapist and was so employed at the time of trial, working an average of 12 to 15 hours per week. Wife’s lack of education and her age-related physical limitations have hindered her ability to obtain full-time employment as an occupational therapist.

After beginning his medical practice, husband’s income began to steadily increase, doubling in the first year. By 2005, husband was earning a gross annual income of $281,000. Between 2003 and 2007, husband earned an average of $240,000 per year. At the time of trial, wife asserted that husband’s monthly gross income was $22,760, husband claimed that it was $16,873 per month, and the trial court found that it was $19,992 per month. The trial court’s finding was based on the average of husband’s earnings over the previous five years. Wife’s monthly gross income was $1,961 at the time of trial.

Despite husband’s growing income, the parties’ marital estate was relatively small at the time of dissolution. Their residence was worth $110,716, husband’s medical practice was worth $63,370, and they had retirement accounts valued at $337,993. Husband’s recent income had been devoted in significant part to retiring his student loans. The trial court equally divided the marital property, with wife receiving the family residence and $115,077 in net retirement accounts, which, in addition to the personal property awarded to her, yielded her a property division award of $250,236.

Wife proposed that she not steadily increase her working hours but, instead, pursue an education plan under which she sought $1,000 per month as nontaxable transitional support for seven years. Wife proposed to obtain master’s and doctoral degrees by the end of that period, while *177 continuing to work an average of 18 to 20 hours per week. For the first two years, the trial court awarded wife transitional support in the amount of $1,000 per month, maintenance support in the amount of $2,000, and compensatory support in the amount of $3,000 per month. The trial court awarded wife maintenance support in the amount of $4,000 per month for the following two years and $3,000 per month for an indefinite period thereafter. In sum, wife was awarded $6,000 in combined spousal support for the first two years, $4,000 per month for the succeeding two years, and $3,000 per month thereafter on an indefinite basis.

On appeal, wife raises two assignments of error. She first asserts that the trial court erred in failing to award her indefinite compensatory support.

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Related

In the Matter of Hook
242 P.3d 697 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
242 P.3d 697, 238 Or. App. 172, 2010 Ore. App. LEXIS 1266, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-marriage-of-hook-orctapp-2010.