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2001 ND 191

Sommer v. Sommer

North Dakota Supreme Court

Decided December 5, 2001

North Dakota Supreme Court · decided 2001-12-05

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“Spousal support is appropriate when a party has been disadvantaged as a result of the marriage. Weigel v. Weigel, 2000 ND 16, ¶¶ 11-14 , 604 N.W.2d 462 ; Brown v. Brown, 1999 ND 199, ¶ 32 , 600 N.W.2d 869 (“A ‘disadvantaged’ spouse is one who has ‘foregone opportunities or lost advantages as a consequence of the marriage and who has contributed during the marriage to the supporting spouse’s increased earning capacity.’ ” (quoting Riehl v. Riehl, 1999 ND 107, ¶ 9 , 595 N.W.2d 10 )). Certainly in the case of long-term marriages, permanent spousal support may be appropriate, but it should not be the norm when rehabilitative support can overcome the disadvantage resulting from the marriage. I am reassured by the longstanding position of this Court that rehabilitative, not permanent, spousal support is preferred. See, e.g., van Oosting v. van Oosting, 521 N.W.2d 93, 100 (N.D.1994); Welder v. Welder, 520 N.W.2d 813, 818 (N.D.1994); Wiege v. Wiege, 518 N.W.2d 708, 711 (N.D.1994); Roen v. Roen, 438 N.W.2d 170, 172 (N.D.1989).”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Pearson v. Pearson

Relies on Van Oosting v. Van Oosting · Wiege v. Wiege · Weigel v. Weigel

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 2001-12-05

How this case has been cited

Cited by 27 later decisions — most recently December 2022 · most notably Krueger v. Krueger (2008), Bauerle v. Bauerle (2002)

27 state decisions

150200120102020decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

SANDSTROM, Justice,

¶1concurring in the result.

¶2[¶ 25] I concur in the result.

¶3[¶ 26] I am concerned that the majority opinion may be construed as suggesting spousal support is appropriate whenever a spouse will not be able to maintain the same standard of living after a divorce. Sadly, a reduced standard of living is often the case for both parties to a divorce.

¶4[¶ 27] Spousal support is appropriate when a party has been disadvantaged as a result of the marriage. Weigel v. Weigel, 2000 ND 16, ¶¶ 11-14, 604 N.W.2d 462; Brown v. Brown, 1999 ND 199, ¶ 32, 600 N.W.2d 869 (“A ‘disadvantaged’ spouse is one who has ‘foregone opportunities or lost advantages as a consequence of the marriage and who has contributed during the marriage to the supporting spouse’s increased earning capacity.’ ” (quoting Riehl v. Riehl, 1999 ND 107, ¶ 9, 595 N.W.2d 10)). Certainly in the case of long-term marriages, permanent spousal support may be appropriate, but it should not be the norm when rehabilitative support can overcome the disadvantage resulting from the marriage. I am reassured by the longstanding position of this Court that rehabilitative, not permanent, spousal support is preferred. See, e.g., van Oosting v. van Oosting, 521 N.W.2d 93, 100 (N.D.1994); Welder v. Welder, 520 N.W.2d 813, 818 (N.D.1994); Wiege v. Wiege, 518 N.W.2d 708, 711 (N.D.1994); Roen v. Roen, 438 N.W.2d 170, 172 (N.D.1989).

[¶ 28] Dale V. Sandstrom, J.
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