Tierney v Tierney
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Attorneys and Parties
Brief Summary
Domestic relations and equitable distribution of a spouse's disability pension through a domestic relations order (DRO).
Supreme Court denied the wife's motion for an amended DRO, finding that the husband was not retired in a way subject to a DRO and that his pension was a 100% disability benefit constituting separate property.
The Appellate Division reversed the denial of the amended DRO and directed immediate distribution of the wife's marital share of the husband's disability pension, along with calculation of arrears.
The divorce judgment had already determined that the wife was entitled to an equitable share of the husband's regular or disability pension and that the share would be implemented by DRO. The husband could not relitigate whether the disability pension was marital property during the later DRO proceeding, and the original DRO merely contained drafting errors that needed correction.
Background
The parties married in 1998. The husband worked for the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) from 1999 until he was medically terminated in 2021 after a back injury. During the divorce action, the parties stipulated that the husband's New York State and Local Retirement System pension would be divided under the Majauskas formula, that the wife would receive a share of the pre-retirement death benefit, and that she would be protected as beneficiary pending retirement. After trial on remaining issues, Supreme Court held that if the husband applied for a disability pension, he had to notify the wife and her share of any disability pension would be awarded through a DRO. The divorce judgment also provided that the wife's maintenance would end upon her receipt of her equitable share of the husband's regular or disability pension. The husband later obtained a disability retirement benefit effective May 2021. A 2022 DRO was accepted and then rescinded by the Retirement System because it incorrectly awarded the wife a pension share exceeding the total benefit, prompting the wife to seek an amended DRO.
Lower Court Decision
Supreme Court (Schick, J.) denied the wife's motion for an amended DRO after a hearing. It reasoned that the husband had been terminated rather than retired and had shown, based on a Workers' Compensation Board decision, that the pension was entirely a disability benefit and therefore his separate property. The court thus declined to amend the DRO to provide the wife with a share of the disability pension.
Appellate Division Reversal
The Appellate Division held that the issue had already been litigated and resolved in the divorce action and incorporated into the final judgment. That judgment established that the wife would receive an equitable share of the husband's disability pension through a DRO. Because a DRO must conform to the judgment, the later court's role was to correct the defective DRO, not reopen the classification of the pension. The appellate court also noted that the husband's ordinary disability pension had a service component under Retirement and Social Security Law § 507-a (b) (1) [provision requiring a length-of-service component for this ordinary disability retirement benefit], which supports treatment of at least part of the benefit as deferred compensation. The court granted the wife's motion for an amended DRO, ordered immediate distributions, and remitted for entry of the amended DRO and calculation of arrears, with credit to the husband for maintenance paid after the wife became entitled to her pension share.
Legal Significance
This decision reinforces that a final divorce judgment is conclusive as to pension-distribution rights that were litigated or could have been litigated. In post-judgment DRO proceedings, courts may amend an order to make it accurately reflect the judgment, but they may not allow a party to relitigate whether a disability pension is marital or separate property after that issue was already decided. The case also confirms that a reference to the Majauskas formula, without further limitation, can reflect an intent to award the nonemployee spouse 50% of the marital portion of the pension, including a disability pension where the judgment so provides.
If a divorce judgment awards a spouse a share of the other spouse's disability pension and directs implementation by DRO, a later drafting mistake in the DRO can be corrected, but the pension's marital-property status cannot be relitigated; the nonemployee spouse is entitled to corrected payments and arrears from the date benefits began.