McFall v. McFall
2013 Ohio 2320
Ohio Ct. App.2013Background
- Divorce of James and Brenda McFall after ~33 years; asset division included multiple pensions/retirement plans and QDROs.
- Valuation period for marital portion set from Feb 19, 1977 to Dec 10, 2009.
- Decree contained a Preretirement Survivorship Protection for Alternate Payee, limited to preretirement accounts, but silent on post-retirement survivorship and on accounts already in payout.
- In Feb 2011, a QDRO for Husband’s Civil Service pension was approved ordering a survivor annuity to Wife to the extent Husband elected at retirement, creating language inconsistency with the decree.
- Wife later learned in May 2011 that joint survivorship was denied due to the decree-QDRO discrepancy and filed a Civ.R. 60(B) motion claiming entitlement to relief for survivorship; the trial court denied without a hearing.
- Court reverses, remands on Civ.R. 60(B) issue; dissent contests whether relief should have been available via direct appeal instead.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether Civ.R. 60(B) relief was proper without a hearing | Wife argued 60(B)(5) timeliness and operative facts warrant relief | Husband contends no merits and no timely relief under 60(B) | 60(B) motion abused; but issue sustained, requiring hearing (on remand) per majority |
Key Cases Cited
- GTE Automatic Elec., Inc. v. ARC Industries, Inc., 47 Ohio St.2d 146 (Ohio 1976) (standard for relief from judgment under Civ.R. 60(B))
- Strack v. Pelton, 70 Ohio St.3d 172 (Ohio 1994) (abuse of discretion standard; three-part test for Civ.R. 60(B) relief)
- Kay v. Marc Glassman, Inc., 76 Ohio St.3d 18 (Ohio 1996) (abuse-of-discretion framework; movant must show timeliness and merits)