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259 Ark. 858

537 S.W.2d 367

Fenney v. Fenney

Supreme Court of Arkansas

Decided June 7, 1976

Supreme Court of Arkansas · decided 1976-06-07

Cited by 44 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 1988 · most notably McCarty v. McCarty (1981), Marriage of Janssen v. Janssen (1983)

38 state decisions — followed in 12 states

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“We do not consider the right to receive retirement pay from the armed forces to be personal property within the meaning of Ark. Stat. Ann. § 34-1214, supra. The right to a pension and retirement pay, not yet due and payable, cannot be assigned, sold, transferred, conveyed or pledged. See In re Marriage of Ellis, 538 P. 2d 1347 (Colo. App. 1975).”

quoted by 2 later decisions, including Bragg's Electric Construction Co. v. Rebsamen Companies (In Re Bragg's Electric Construction Co.), Knopf v. Knopf

Applies 42 U.S.C. § 659 (§ 459 of the Social Security Act of 1935)

Relies on Ramsey v. Ramsey · In Re Marriage of Ellis · Miser v. Miser

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1976-06-07

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Conley Byrd, Justice.

¶1 Appellant Roberta Z. Fenney having been granted a divorce from appellee William C. Fenney appeals from the trial court’s holding that she was not entitled to one-third of her husband’s Air Force retirement pay. We affirm the trial court.

¶2 Ark. Stat. Ann. § 34-1214 (Repl. 1962) provides that a wife who is granted a divorce “shall be entitled to one-third [1/3] of the husband’s personal property absolutely, and one-third [1 /3] of all the lands whereof her husband was seized of an estate of inheritance at any time during the marriage for her life, ...”

¶3 We do not consider the right to receive retirement pay from the armed forces to be personal property within the meaning of Ark. Stat. Ann. § 34-1214, supra. The right to a pension and retirement pay, not yet due and payable, cannot be assigned, sold, transferred, conveyed or pledged. See In re Marriage of Ellis, 538 P. 2d 1347 (Colo. App. 1975).

¶4 Appellant relies upon cases from community property states, such as Ramsey v. Ramsey, 96 Idaho 672, 535 P. 2d 53 (1975), and Miser v. Miser, 475 S.W. 2d 597 (Tex. Civ. App. 1971), to support her position. For the reasons stated in In re Marriage of Ellis, supra, we do not find the decisions from the community property states to be persuasive. In effect, the community property jurisdictions treat armed forces’ retirement pay as alimony; otherwise, it is not collectible, 42 U.S.C. § 659 (Supp. IV, 1974).

¶5 Affirmed.

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