I would like to highlight a recent victory by one of our outstanding New Jersey family law attorneys; Jennifer Millner, Esquire, a partner in our Princeton office, won an appeal to New Jersey’s Appellate division over an issue arising from valuation of a military pension.
Because the Husband’s Air Force pension was based upon an accumulation of points based on his rank, there is an identifiable difference between the marital component of his pension at the time they entered into their Marital Settlement Agreement and the benefit he received based on the years of post-divorce employment and point accumulation he had due to subsequent promotions and post-divorce efforts.
The trial court applied a very straightforward coverture fraction to value the pension, however, on appeal, Ms. Millner, with the assistance of Robert Epstein, Esquire and Eliana Baer, Esquire, successfully argued for the application of a coverture fraction that recognizes the distinction between the marital and post-marital impact of the Husband’s employment. The Appellate Division “[agreed] with the [husband’s] statement that the active duty and reservist components of his earnings are discernable, as one can not only calculate the points earned through the two distinct periods of military service, but also obtain the demarcated salary for each rank held.”