Roetter v. Roetter

Elizabeth Roetter (plaintiff) and Michael Roetter (defendant) married in 2014. Michael had significantly more assets than Elizabeth at the time of marriage, including retirement accounts worth over $465,000. Elizabeth entered the marriage with over $100,000 in student loans and had not graduated college. The couple went on to have two children, one of whom was diagnosed with autism. The Roetters mutually agreed that Elizabeth would stop working and take care of the children full-time. The autistic child required a high degree of supervision and was prone to tantrums, screaming, and hyperactivity. Meanwhile, Michael worked and earned over $100,000 a year, and his retirement accounts materially increased in value during the marriage. Elizabeth filed for divorce in 2019, and a trial regarding property division was held in 2020. By the time of trial, Elizabeth had been out of the workforce for five years and could probably earn about $30,000 a year only, if she could work at all. Elizabeth spent most of her time caring for the young children, and she rented a house as opposed to a smaller apartment so that the children would have sufficient space. Elizabeth requested a 55 percent award of the marital estate from the trial court, including the full value of Michael’s retirement accounts and only 50 percent of her student loan. The court included all the premarital assets and debts in the marital estate and immediately assigned the initial value of the retirement accounts to Michael and the full student-loan balance to Elizabeth. The court then calculated the remaining marital assets and debts and awarded Elizabeth 55 percent of the net value to account for Michael’s higher income and earning capacity. The court’s calculation meant that Elizabeth was effectively receiving about 25 percent of the gross marital estate. Elizabeth appealed, challenging the trial court’s distribution of marital property.