Bender v. Bender

785 A.2d 197 (2001)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

H and W were married in 1976 and have four children, two of whom were minors at the time of trial. W brought this dissolution action, claiming custody of the minor children, child support, alimony, and a property distribution. Despite H's fairly good income, additional income from W's part-time employment and from H’s lawn services and snow plowing, and minimal housing expenses, the parties had acquired virtually no assets and no savings. Nearly all of the parties' discretionary income had been expended on H's personal pursuits. H had been employed as a firefighter by the city of Meriden for approximately nineteen years. H is entitled to a pension as a firefighter in the event that he reaches twenty-five years of service. His pension, therefore, is unvested, except for purposes of disability. If H were to leave the fire department before twenty-five years of service, other than for a disability, he would receive only his contributions made to the pension, which, at the time of trial, were valued at approximately $27,741. The trial court awarded joint custody of the minor children to the parties and ordered H to pay child support to W for the minor children in the amount of $255 per week. The court ordered the defendant to pay W periodic alimony of $ 200 per week. The court expressly ordered that H's alimony obligation would not be terminable upon any remarriage or cohabitation. The court also awarded W 1/2 of any pension benefit that H was to receive. H appealed; The trial court improperly had awarded the unvested pension benefits to W instead of utilizing the known present value of the contributions into the pension. The Appellate Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court. H filed a petition for certification to appeal from the judgment of the Appellate Court to this court.