Marriage of Reaves

Michael Reaves (plaintiff) and Janet Reaves (defendant) divorced in 1999 when Michael, a psychiatrist, was 52 years old and Janet was 53 and unemployed. The marital settlement agreement required Michael to pay monthly spousal support of $3,500 for the first two years after the divorce and $3,200 indefinitely afterwards. The agreement stated that the payment’s purpose was to support Janet. The court incorporated the agreement into its dissolution judgment. Janet began working part-time as an art teacher, and in 2006 she earned about $2,400 per month. In 2007, Michael started working at 80 percent of full time, and he earned about $12,200 per month. Michael remarried, and his second wife earned about $3,650 per month. Michael decided to fully retire in 2008 and estimated that his post-retirement income would be about $5,700 per month. Michael filed a motion to modify the dissolution judgment to terminate his spousal-support obligation. Janet did not dispute that there had been a substantial and unanticipated change of circumstances since the dissolution. Without taking into account the second wife’s income, the trial court found that it was equitable to terminate Michael’s obligations to pay spousal support. On appeal, Janet argued, among other things, that the court should have considered the second wife’s income before terminating Michael’s spousal-support order.