Ronald Geraw v. Pamela Geraw

2021 VT 45
CourtSupreme Court of Vermont
DecidedJune 11, 2021
Docket2020-263
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2021 VT 45 (Ronald Geraw v. Pamela Geraw) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Vermont primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ronald Geraw v. Pamela Geraw, 2021 VT 45 (Vt. 2021).

Opinion

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to motions for reargument under V.R.A.P. 40 as well as formal revision before publication in the Vermont Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions by email at: JUD.Reporter@vermont.gov or by mail at: Vermont Supreme Court, 109 State Street, Montpelier, Vermont 05609-0801, of any errors in order that corrections may be made before this opinion goes to press.

2021 VT 45

No. 2020-263

Ronald Geraw Supreme Court

On Appeal from v. Superior Court, Chittenden Unit, Family Division

Pamela Geraw January Term, 2021

Thomas Carlson, J.

Thomas C. Nuovo of Bauer Gravel Farnham, LLP, Colchester, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Samantha M. Henchen of Henchen Law Office, PLLC, Colchester, for Defendant-Appellee.

PRESENT: Reiber, C.J., Robinson, Eaton, Carroll and Cohen, JJ.

¶ 1. REIBER, C.J. This case involves wife’s longstanding efforts to collect money

owed to her by husband under a 2013 final divorce order as reduced to a money judgment in 2018.

Husband contends that his current assets, including a home and tractor, are exempt from collection

under 21 V.S.A. § 681 because he purchased them with workers’ compensation settlement funds.

If this argument fails with respect to the tractor, husband asserts that the tractor should be exempt

under 12 V.S.A. § 2740(19) because it is “reasonably necessary” for his support. Husband further

argues that an investment account he holds is a Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-Aside

Account (WCMSA) that is also exempt from collection. We affirm. I. Prior Litigation

¶ 2. Husband suffered a work-related injury in 2010 during the parties’ marriage. He

settled his worker’s compensation claim in December 2014, after the parties’ divorce became final.

He received a lump-sum payment of $350,000 (less $42,112.58 in attorney’s fees and expenses)

as “compensation for permanent impairment.”

¶ 3. At the time of the parties’ 2013 divorce, “[h]usband’s sole source of

income . . . was temporary workers’ compensation benefits, which he expected to terminate at the

end of 2014.”1 Geraw v. Geraw, No. 2014-044, 2014 WL 3715005, *1 (Vt. July 24, 2014) (unpub.

mem.), https://www.vermontjudiciary.org/sites/default/files/documents/eo14-044.pdf [https://

perma.cc/7EEZ-KMSE]. Because he had insufficient income to pay maintenance, the court

focused “on property division in lieu of maintenance to generate income.” Id. (quotation omitted).

It awarded husband the primary marital asset—the marital home—and ordered him to pay wife

$75,275 within nine months or make other arrangements to pay wife that sum. We affirmed the

final divorce order on appeal. See id.

¶ 4. Husband did not pay wife as ordered and he stopped paying the mortgage as of

September 2014. See Geraw v. Geraw, No. 2019-041, 2019 WL 3545447, *1 (Vt. July 12, 2019)

(unpub. mem.), https://www.vermontjudiciary.org/sites/default/files/documents/eo19-041.pdf

1 In the final divorce order, the court questioned husband’s assertion that he would not receive any workers’ compensation benefits after he reached his medical endpoint. It queried why husband would not at that point receive a workers’ compensation award if he was permanently disabled and unable to work due to a work-related injury. The court observed, however, that husband appeared to be well-acquainted with the workers’ compensation system, having received both temporary benefits and permanent lump-sum awards in the past. Because no worker’s compensation award was before it, the court did not address this issue further. Had husband received this lump-sum payment during the marriage or disclosed it to the extent he was aware it was forthcoming, it would presumably have been subject to the court’s jurisdiction during the divorce proceedings. See 15 V.S.A. § 751(a) (“All property owned by either or both of the parties, however and whenever acquired, shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the court.”); id. § 751(b)(8) (providing that, in making property settlement, court may consider all relevant factors, including “[t]he opportunity of each [party] for future acquisition of capital assets and income”). 2 [https://perma.cc/K87F-GUZJ]. Wife moved to enforce the final divorce order and in April 2015,

the court modified the final divorce order, by agreement, awarding wife the former marital home

and directing that it be sold. The court noted that wife could pursue additional enforcement actions

if she were not made whole. Wife netted approximately $7460 from the sale. See id.

¶ 5. Wife then moved to enforce the April 2015 order and collect the deficiency.

Husband responded by moving to modify the 2015 order. In December 2018, the court denied

husband’s motion and awarded wife judgment for the deficiency—$67,815.48 plus interest at the

statutory rate. We affirmed this decision on appeal. See id.

II. Collection Efforts and Order on Appeal

¶ 6. Following our decision, litigation of wife’s ongoing collection effort resumed.

Husband continued to “drag[] his feet” in responding to wife’s requests for discovery of his current

income and assets, leading wife to file a motion to compel. The court set a new discovery schedule

and at wife’s request, scheduled a hearing. Prior to the hearing, wife filed a memorandum in

support of her attempt to reach husband’s workers’ compensation and pension benefits. Husband

did not receive a copy of this document before the hearing because it was mailed to an infrequently

checked address for husband’s attorney.

¶ 7. Following the hearing and the submission of post-hearing memoranda, the court

ruled on issues raised by wife’s motion to enforce.2 As set forth below, it rejected husband’s

assertion that 21 V.S.A. § 681 shielded assets he purchased using workers’ compensation

2 Husband complained in his post-trial filing that he was unaware of what issues would be addressed at the hearing and that, had he known, he would have proceeded differently, including submitting proof that third parties held ownership interests in his property. The court acknowledged that wife’s pre-hearing filing was somewhat vague and belated, but it found that husband clearly knew long before the hearing (as noted by the court in an October 2019 entry order) that all his assets and income were potentially at issue. In any event, the court explained, it could not make conclusive findings on husband’s allegations about third-party interests in his property without these parties being joined in the action and having an opportunity to be heard. 3 settlement funds and it applied 12 V.S.A. § 2740 to determine the extent to which husband’s assets

were subject to collection.

¶ 8. Husband had the following assets. He purchased a home on twenty-five acres in

2015 for $221,500 cash using funds from his worker’s compensation settlement. He then

conveyed the property to a revocable living trust, subject to a life interest for the benefit of his

“partner.” The same year, husband purchased with workers’ compensation settlement funds a

$24,000 Kubota tractor—now worth $15,000—and a 2016 Toyota RAV 4. Husband also owned

an unregistered 2001 Ford 150 pickup and a 1980 Chevrolet Camaro, both of which he was

awarded in the final divorce order. No evidence was presented as to the value of these vehicles.

¶ 9. Husband had income of $1732 per month in Social Security Disability Insurance

payments and $2140 in other disability/pension benefits from an unspecified source. His income

essentially equaled his claimed expenses.

¶ 10.

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2021 VT 45, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ronald-geraw-v-pamela-geraw-vt-2021.