Husband Must Present Evidence of Value to Get Part of Pension
Tennessee case summary on pension valuation in divorce.
Sandi Lynn Pack v. James Wade Pack
Husband Must Present Evidence of Value to Get Part of Pension
The husband and wife in this Williamson County, Tennessee, case were married in 1993 and had two children. In 1997, the wife went to law school, and upon her graduation, she became the sole wage earner for the family. In 2017, the wife filed for divorce on the grounds of inappropriate marital conduct. In particular, she alleged that he recklessly did stock trading without her consent, resulting in large losses.
The husband didn’t answer the divorce complaint, nor did he appear at the subsequent default hearing. Instead, the husband believed that the wife would dismiss the complaint, which she did not do.
The husband finally hired a lawyer when he got the order granting the default judgment, and made a motion to have the default set aside. The court denied the motion, and instead addressed the remaining issues in the case.
The marital estate was valued at $1.4 million, but this did not include the value of the wife’s pension. The wife was awarded the pension, plus 60% of the other assets. The husband then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, and raised a number of issues. These issues included the treatment of the pension.
After addressing various issues regarding the default judgment and property division, the appeals court turned to the pension. Neither party had presented evidence as to the present value, although the wife had offered evidence that she would receive $1,083 per month at the age of 65. She was 48 at the time of trial.
The appeals court zeroed in on the fact that the husband had never offered any evidence as to the present value. Since there was absolutely no evidence of present value, the appeals court concluded that there was no ground to set aside the lower court’s treatment of the asset.
After addressing a number of other issues, the Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s ruling in its entirety. It also assessed the costs of appeal against the husband.
No. M2018-00491-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 30, 2019).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
To learn more, see Tennessee Divorce Law on Retirement.
