PA Federal Judge Pension Valued Incorrectly by Divorce Court

Pennsylvania case summary on judicial pension as a marital asset in divorce.

Christopher Conner v. Katherene E. Conner

The husband and wife in this Pennsylvania case were married in 1984 and had four adult children.  Both had law degrees.  They separated in 2014.

The husband was an attorney in private practice for 20 years until being appointed to the federal bench by President George W. Bush in 2002.  Upon satisfying the “rule of 80” (age plus years of service equal 80), he will be eligible to receive a pension equal to his salary at time of retirement.  However, he can elect to participate in a judicial survivor’s annuity system, and contributed 2.2% of his income to that system.

The wife had worked in a district attorney’s office, in private practice, and in a law school faculty position.

The husband filed for divorce in 2015.  After a hearing, the court determined that the husband’s judicial salary and pension were marital property subject to equitable distribution.

An appeal followed, and one of the issues was the valuation of the husband’s judicial income and pension.  The trial court had imputed a life expectancy of 82 to the husband, and set his retirement age at 65.  It therefore based his income on his salary of $208,000, and multiplied this by 17, to reflect the number of years of retirement.

The appeal court first noted that the trial court erred in setting the life expectancy and retirement age.  It called these assumptions “troubling,” since there was no evidence of record or source of the figures.  It therefore found that the resulting conclusion was an abuse of discretion.

The appeals court also noted that the trial court should have considered whether the husband would receive his full salary for life, or whether he would receive an amount based upon the survivor pension.

For these reasons, after addressing other issues in the case, the case was remanded to the trial court.

Nos. 856 MDA 2018, 907 MDA 2018, 2019 PA Super. 251 (Aug.  20,  2019).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see Property Division in Tennessee Divorce.