Berry v. Berry
Texas Supreme Court
647 S.W.2d 945 (1983)
- Written by Whitney Kamerzel , JD
Facts
Giles Berry (defendant) and Elna Berry (plaintiff) were married in 1939. From 1940 to 1978, Giles was employed and accrued benefits to a defined-benefit payment plan. Giles and Elna divorced in 1966. Because Giles was not yet eligible to receive distributions from his retirement plan, he continued to work. Giles’s retirement-plan benefits were computed according to several factors, including Giles’s salary and length of service. Giles’s salary after his divorce was significantly higher than his previous salaries due to several promotions, which meant that Giles received a much higher retirement distribution upon retirement than he would have received had he been eligible to retire with benefits at the time of his divorce. Once Giles retired, Elna sued Giles to collect her share of the retirement benefits. The trial court used the hypothetical value of the retirement benefits as of the date of the divorce to calculate the retirement benefit’s value as community property. The court of appeals reversed, holding that the retirement benefit’s value as community property must be calculated at the date the benefit was actually distributed to Giles. Giles appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Kilgarlin, J.)
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