In Re Munson And Beal

146 A.3d 153 (2016)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Munson and Beal met in 1992. they began living together in Munson's home. Approximately fifteen years later, on October 8, 2008, the parties entered into a civil union, and, on January 1, 2011, their civil union converted to a marriage by operation of law. On March 28, 2012, Munson filed a petition for divorce. Prior to the legalization of gay marriage, Beal and Munson did what the law allowed them to do as any other married couple to provide for the other, including, but not limited to executing estate plans that left respective estates to the other, Munson providing life and health insurance for her partner's benefit, having joint accounts, commingling bank, and credit card accounts, sharing duties within the home and finally joining together in a civil union and legal marriage. Munson claimed that they had a short-term marriage. Beal argued that “the Court must consider the parties['] lengthy twenty-one-year relationship … when ordering [a] … distribution of the marital property in this matter.” The court found that the parties' marriage was “short-term” and concluded that “this is a special circumstance wherein distribution of the assets is not equal.” The court ordered the distribution of approximately twelve percent of the marital estate to Beal and that Munson pay $500 per month in alimony to Beal for a term of five years. Beal appealed.