Johnson v. Johnson
Arizona Supreme Court
131 Ariz. 38 (1981)
Facts
Julia Johnson (plaintiff) was married to Emery Johnson (defendant). During Julia and Emery’s 15-year marriage, Emery earned rights to a profit-sharing plan and a pension plan through his employer. Although Emery’s rights in the plans were vested, Emery was not entitled to use the proceeds until he reached age 65. However, the plans were not subject to forfeiture if Emery died before reaching age 65. After the parties filed for divorce, the trial court allocated the parties’ rights to assets acquired during marriage. At trial, Emery’s profit-sharing plan had $17,047.14 and Emery’s pension plan had $55,380.77 maintained in savings accounts. Because Emery’s sixty-fifth birthday was 22 years away, the trial court discounted the value of the funds at 6 percent interest for 22 years. Both parties appealed. At the time of Emery’s appeal, Emery was 15 years away from retirement.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Holohan, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 707,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 44,500 briefs, keyed to 983 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
