178 Ind. App. 372 - Goodwill v. Goodwill’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

14 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““James does not have a sufficient vested present interest in his future monthly pension payments so as to qualify those payments as ‘property’ under the relevant statute. At the time of the decree of dissolution, James had only a contingent future interest rather than a vested present interest in the payments. He was not entitled to receive payment of his pension on demand, but rather was required to wait for monthly payments which were contingent upon his continued survival. While we realize that there are material differences between a salary that may be earned at some future time and the right to receive payments under a vested pension plan, it seems only too apparent that payments to be made from income to be received in the future constitutes an award of property in excess of the value of the marital assets and therefore constitutes an award of maintenance or support rather than a division of property. Because the trial court made no finding that Jean was incapacitated as required under IC 1971, 31-l-11.5-9(c), it was error for the court to order payments from James’ pension plan payments. “The trial court erred by apportioning James’ future pension payments in the property settlement. While the rights of either spouse to payments under a pension plan must be considered by the trial court in determining the manner in which marital assets are to be distributed, an actual award under the property settlement must consist of assets in which the parties have a vested present ”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 179 Ind. App. 378 - Hiscox v. Hiscox · Wilson v. Wilson

2. ““In the case before us, the Wife’s claim is even less compelling than that presented in Savage, supra. Here the Husband has yet to reach the age upon which any retirement benefits accrue. The pension plan is neither a present nor a vested interest as is required for disposition under the Indiana Dissolution of Marriage Act. See Wilcox v. Wilcox (1st Dist.1977) Ind.App., 365 N.E.2d 792 ; Johnson v. Johnson, supra, [Ind.App.,] 367 N.E.2d 1147 . The $6,000.00 judgment therefore constituted an abuse of discretion in that it exceeded the value of the marital property available for distribution.” (Footnote omitted.)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Wilson v. Wilson