Matlock v. Matlock

664 A.2d 551, 444 Pa. Super. 507, 1995 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2182
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 21, 1995
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 664 A.2d 551 (Matlock v. Matlock) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Matlock v. Matlock, 664 A.2d 551, 444 Pa. Super. 507, 1995 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2182 (Pa. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinions

BECK, Judge:

In this appeal, we are asked to determine whether the trial court erred in its interpretation and enforcement of the Property Settlement Agreement (“PSA”) entered into by appellant, Colonel (retired) Joseph D. Mat-lock (“husband”) and his former spouse, ap-pellee, Maryann E. Stranko Matlock (“wife”). Specifically, we must interpret the division of pension benefits under the PSA. We affirm the trial court.

The factual history and procedural posture of this case are as follows. The parties were married on December 21, 1963. The following year, in August 1964, husband entered the United States Air Force (“USAF”). After serving in Vietnam, husband entered law school. Husband completed law school in 1973 while still on active duty in the USAF. When he completed law school, husband attained the rank of senior captain.

By decree and order dated May 5, 1987, the parties were divorced. This decree and order fully incorporated the PSA which the parties had executed on February 8, 1987. But the decree and order did not merge with the PSA and the PSA survived the decree and order. The court also issued a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (“QDRO”) that attempted to effectuate the portions of the PSA regarding distribution of the pension. The QDRO was in the form agreed to by the parties and attached as an exhibit to the PSA.

Prior to the parties’ May 5, 1987 divorce, on October 1, 1985, husband was promoted from lieutenant colonel to colonel. Husband’s rank was colonel when the parties divorced. However, to receive a colonel’s pension upon his retirement, husband had to retire on or after October 1, 1988. Consequently, if husband had retired from the USAF on the date that the parties were divorced, husband would have only been eligible to receive the pension of a lieutenant colonel. Husband evidenced no intent to retire on May 5, 1987.

Husband eventually retired from the USAF on September 1, 1992. He was still a colonel and he had qualified to receive a colonel’s pension benefits. At the time husband’s pension benefits were initially distributed to him and wife pursuant to the QDRO, wife received one-half of husband’s pension benefits based on a lieutenant colonel’s salary, i.e., the amount she was entitled to on the day of divorce. The remainder of husband’s pension benefits were paid to husband.

On June 25, 1993, wife petitioned the trial court to enforce the PSA, claiming that she and husband had agreed that she was entitled to receive one-half of a colonel’s pension benefits because husband had accrued a colonel’s pension benefits when he retired. Husband answered wife’s petition claiming that he and wife had agreed that she was only entitled to receive one-half of the lieutenant colonel’s pension benefits which husband had accrued at the time of the parties’ divorce.

[553]*553Wife filed a motion in limine in which she sought to exclude any and all parol evidence with regard to the interpretation of the PSA. After husband responded to wife’s motion in limine, the trial court granted wife’s request.

At the evidentiary hearing in the case in chief both parties testified. Wife also presented the testimony of Stephen Glassman, an expert in the field of military pension law. The trial court expressly stated that Glass-man’s testimony only informed it of the intricacies of the Uniformed Services Former Spouses Protection Act1 and did not aid the trial court in its interpretation of the PSA. Trial Court Supplemental Opinion at 1-2.

The trial court issued its memorandum and order which granted wife’s motion to enforce the PSA The court in interpreting the PSA found the QDRO was not part of the contract. At that time, the trial court also issued a new Qualified Military Retirement Order (“QMRO”) for the purposes of effectuating its interpretation of the PSA because it deemed the original QDRO inadequate. Husband appealed.

Husband raises the following issues for our review:

1. Did the lower court err in holding that the property settlement agreement executed by the parties on February 8, 1987 (“PSA”) and the military order (qualified domestic relations order) (hereinafter referred to as the “the [sic] QDRO”) provide for appellee’s receiving one-half of the retired pay which appellant began receiving when he retired on September 1, 1992 rather than one-half of the retired pay which he was entitled to as of the date of divorce, May 5, 1987?
2. Did the lower court err when it determined that the QDRO, which is referred to in paragraph thirteenth of the PSA and a copy of which is attached to the PSA as exhibit B, is not part of the parties [sic] agreement?
3. Did the lower court err by not finding that the terms of the PSA and QDRO supported appellant’s contention regarding the division of his retired pay?
4A Did the lower court err by not finding that the pertinent terms of the PSA and QDRO were ambiguous?
4B. Did the lower court err by not construing the PSA and QDRO against appel-lee since her representatives drafted both?
5. Did the lower court err by granting appellee’s motion in limine?
6. Did the lower court err by allowing Stephen Glassman, Esquire to testify and offer his opinion regarding the meaning of the terms of the PSA and the QDRO?

Appellant’s Brief at 4.

We first address wife’s contention that husband’s appeal is interlocutory. Wife claims that husband’s appeal is not properly before this court because the trial court retained jurisdiction over the QMRO to supervise and enforce the payment of husband’s pension benefits and failed to enter a final monetary judgment in this case. We disagree.

Appeals can be taken only from final orders, unless a statute or rule of court provides otherwise. Foflygen v. R. Zemel, M.D. (PC), 420 Pa.Super. 18, 28, 615 A.2d 1345, 1350 (1992), allocatur denied, 535 Pa. 619, 629 A.2d 1380 (1993) (citing Pugar v. Greco, 483 Pa. 68, 72-73, 394 A.2d 542, 544-45 (1978)); Pa.R.App.P. 341(a). A final order is one which “serves to put the litigant out of court either by litigation or disposing of the ease entirely.” Foflygen, 420 Pa.Super. at 28, 615 A.2d at 1350 (citing Bender’s Floor Covering v. Gardner, 387 Pa.Super. 531, 564 A.2d 518 (1989)). The QMRO which effectuates the trial court’s interpretation of the PSA pertinently orders the following:

K. Judgement [sic] in the amount of ($ ) (Exact amount to be determined by the appropriate authority (Plan Administrator) with notification to be sent to this Court, Petitioner and Respondent, when such sum is calculated. Counsel for the respective parties are directed to record such judgment in the jurisdiction deemed appropriate) is hereby entered in favor of MARYANN MATLOCK and against JOSEPH MATLOCK, said sum being the difference between the pension payments [554]*554actually paid to the Petition[er] [sic] and the amount owed by the Respondent to the Petitioner pursuant to this Court’s Decree and Order of Divorce dated May 5, 1987.

QMRO at 9.

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Bluebook (online)
664 A.2d 551, 444 Pa. Super. 507, 1995 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2182, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matlock-v-matlock-pasuperct-1995.