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CourtListener opinion 10473907

Date unknown · US

Extracted case name
pending
Extracted reporter citation
pending
Docket / number
368469 Lapeer Circuit
QDRO relevance 5/5Retirement relevance 5/5Family-law relevance 5/5gold label pending
Research-use warning: This page contains machine-draft public annotations generated from public opinion text. The headnote is not Willie-approved gold-label work product and is not legal advice. Verify the full opinion and current law before relying on it.

Machine-draft headnote

Machine-draft public headnote: CourtListener opinion 10473907 is included in the LexyCorpus QDRO sample set as a public CourtListener opinion with relevance to pension / defined benefit issues. The current annotation is conservative: it identifies source provenance, relevance signals, and evidence quotes for attorney/agent retrieval. It is not a Willie-approved legal headnote yet.

Retrieval annotation

Draft retrieval summary: this opinion has QDRO relevance score 5/5, retirement-division score 5/5, and family-law score 5/5. Use the quoted text and full opinion below before relying on the case.

Category: pension / defined benefit issues

Evidence quotes

QDRO

aintiff appeals by right the judgment entered by the trial court in favor of defendant. We affirm. I. PERTINENT FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY The parties were divorced via a judgment of divorce in 2004. In 2005, the parties stipulated to the entry of three Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs) regarding each party's right to receive retirement benefits from the other's retirement plan upon retirement or death. However, due to an apparent human error, only two of the proposed QDROs were entered, both regarding plaintiff's right to receive benefits from defendant's plan; the third QDRO, regarding defendant's right to receive benefits from

retirement benefits

nt. We affirm. I. PERTINENT FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY The parties were divorced via a judgment of divorce in 2004. In 2005, the parties stipulated to the entry of three Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs) regarding each party's right to receive retirement benefits from the other's retirement plan upon retirement or death. However, due to an apparent human error, only two of the proposed QDROs were entered, both regarding plaintiff's right to receive benefits from defendant's plan; the third QDRO, regarding defendant's right to receive benefits from plaintiff's plan, was never entered.1 In March 2022, plaintiff ret

pension

ere entered, both regarding plaintiff's right to receive benefits from defendant's plan; the third QDRO, regarding defendant's right to receive benefits from plaintiff's plan, was never entered.1 In March 2022, plaintiff retired and began collecting monthly pension payments and retirement benefits. Defendant subsequently learned of plaintiff's retirement and discovered that the QDRO regarding those benefits had not been entered. Defendant moved the trial court to enter a QDRO regarding those benefits as provided for in the divorce judgment; the order was entered 1 The parties agree that the QDRO was prepared but nev

domestic relations order

peals by right the judgment entered by the trial court in favor of defendant. We affirm. I. PERTINENT FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY The parties were divorced via a judgment of divorce in 2004. In 2005, the parties stipulated to the entry of three Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs) regarding each party's right to receive retirement benefits from the other's retirement plan upon retirement or death. However, due to an apparent human error, only two of the proposed QDROs were entered, both regarding plaintiff's right to receive benefits from defendant's plan; the third QDRO, regarding defendant's right to receive benefits from

Source and provenance

Source type
courtlistener_qdro_opinion_full_text
Permissions posture
public
Generated status
machine draft public v0
Review status
gold label pending
Jurisdiction metadata
US
Deterministic extraction
docket: 368469 Lapeer Circuit
Generated at
May 14, 2026

Related public corpus pages

Deterministic links based on shared title/citation terms and QDRO / retirement / family-law retrieval scores.

Clean opinion text

If this opinion indicates that it is "FOR PUBLICATION," it is subject to
 revision until final publication in the Michigan Appeals Reports.

 STATE OF MICHIGAN

 COURT OF APPEALS

SHERYL L. BROWN, UNPUBLISHED
 July 18, 2024
 Plaintiff-Appellant,

v No. 368469
 Lapeer Circuit Court
MICHAEL T. BROWN, LC No. 02-031753-DM (S)

 Defendant-Appellee.

Before: LETICA, P.J., and BOONSTRA and MARIANI, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

 Plaintiff appeals by right the judgment entered by the trial court in favor of defendant. We
affirm.

 I. PERTINENT FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

 The parties were divorced via a judgment of divorce in 2004. In 2005, the parties stipulated
to the entry of three Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs) regarding each party's right
to receive retirement benefits from the other's retirement plan upon retirement or death. However,
due to an apparent human error, only two of the proposed QDROs were entered, both regarding
plaintiff's right to receive benefits from defendant's plan; the third QDRO, regarding defendant's
right to receive benefits from plaintiff's plan, was never entered.1

 In March 2022, plaintiff retired and began collecting monthly pension payments and
retirement benefits. Defendant subsequently learned of plaintiff's retirement and discovered that
the QDRO regarding those benefits had not been entered. Defendant moved the trial court to enter
a QDRO regarding those benefits as provided for in the divorce judgment; the order was entered

1
 The parties agree that the QDRO was prepared but never entered; plaintiff placed the blame on
defendant's attorney, while defendant's attorney stated that he had "no record that it had been
entered or signed or processed."

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 and approved by plaintiff's plan administrator in December 2022, and defendant began receiving
his share of plaintiff's retirement benefits in 2023.

 In September 2023, defendant filed a motion for reimbursement in the trial court, seeking
to recover his portion of the monthly pension payments that had been paid to plaintiff from her
retirement until the approval and entry of the QDRO. In response, plaintiff argued that defendant's
claim was barred by the 10-year statute of limitations for actions founded upon a judgment or
decree, as provided in MCL 600.5809(3). After a hearing, the trial court granted defendant's
motion and entered a judgment in favor of defendant in the amount of $5,888.76. This appeal
followed.

 II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

 In the absence of disputed questions of fact, this Court reviews de novo whether a claim is
barred by a statute of limitations. Citizens Ins Co v Scholz, 268 Mich App 659, 662; 709 NW2d
164 (2005). We also review de novo issues of statutory interpretation. Dorko v Dorko, 504 Mich
68, 74; 934 NW2d 644 (2019).

 III. ANALYSIS

 Plaintiff argues that the trial court erred by failing to hold that defendant's claim was barred
by the statute of limitations found in MCL 600.5809(3). We disagree.

 MCL 600.5809 states in relevant part:

 (1) A person shall not bring or maintain an action to enforce a noncontractual
 money obligation unless, after the claim first accrued to the person or to someone
 through whom he or she claims, the person commences the action within the
 applicable period of time prescribed by this section.

 * * *

 (3) Except as provided in subsection (4)[2] the period of limitations is 10 years for
 an action founded upon a judgment or decree rendered in a court of record of this
 state, or in a court of record of the United States or of another state of the United
 States, from the time of the rendition of the judgment or decree . . . Within the
 applicable period of limitations prescribed by this subsection, an action may be
 brought upon the judgment or decree a new judgment or decree. The new judgment
 or decree is subject to this subsection.

 "[T]his Court has previously determined that claims relating to a property settlement
contained in a judgment of divorce . . . are subject to the 10-year period of limitations set forth in
MCL 600.5809(3)." O'Leary v O'Leary, 321 Mich App 647, 653; 909 NW2d 518 (2017) (citations

2
 MCL 600.5809(4) concerns actions to enforce child support orders and is not implicated in this
case.

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 omitted). Our Supreme Court has stated that the limitations period found in MCL 600.5809(3)
applies to actions to recover retirement payments collected in contravention of a divorce judgment.
Dorko, 504 Mich at 77, 78.

 "[T]he 10-year period of limitations for a claim relating to a property settlement in a
judgment of divorce begins to run at the time the claim accrues." O'Leary, 321 Mich App at 653.
"[A] claim relating to a property settlement in a judgment of divorce accrues when the money
owing under the property settlement becomes due." Id.; see also Torakis v Torakis, 194 Mich App
201, 203; 486 NW2d 107 (1992), citing Rybinski v Rybinski, 33 Mich 592, 596; 53 NW2d 386
(1952) (stating that a claim for installment payments under a divorce judgment accrues when each
payment comes due and is not paid). It is not necessary for a party to have sought a renewed
judgment under MCL 600.5809(3) if the 10-year limitations period, beginning from when the
claim accrued, has not yet run. O'Leary, 321 Mich App at 655. The 10-year limitations period
applies to a postjudgment motion on a divorce judgment, provided the motion seeks to enforce a
right to payment derived from the divorce judgment, and the party filing the motion could have
filed an independent action on their claim. See Dorko, 504 Mich at 77 n 6.

 In this case, defendant made a claim for his share of the retirement benefits paid to plaintiff
well with ten years of those payments coming due. Accordingly, his claim was timely and not
barred by MCL 600.5809(3). Plaintiff argues that Dorko says otherwise, but plaintiff misreads
Dorko. In Dorko, our Supreme Court merely stated that "if defendant wanted to recover those
[retirement] payments plaintiff collected in contravention of the divorce judgment, she would have
10 years to do so under MCL 600.5809(3)." Dorko, 504 Mich at 77. The Court did not overrule
or replace established caselaw concerning when the 10-year period of limitations in
MCL 600.5809(3) begins to run; in fact, Dorko clearly reiterated the principle that "[a] claim
accrues ‘at the time the wrong upon which the claim is based was done.' " Id. at 75. The Court
elaborated that the defendant's claim for retirement benefits due under the judgment of divorce
accrued when the plaintiff retired and began collecting benefits:

 When a party breaches a substantive obligation arising out of a legal judgment, that
 breach gives rise to an independent cause of action. The harmed party then acquires
 the right to bring an action to enforce the judgment. Applying this distinction to
 the facts here, when plaintiff retired and began collecting 100% of his retirement
 benefits due, in contravention of the terms of the divorce judgment, a distinct
 "wrong" occurred, giving rise to a cause of action that defendant could bring to
 enforce the noncontractual money obligation imposed by the judgment of divorce.
 Accordingly, if defendant wanted to recover those payments plaintiff collected in
 contravention of the divorce judgment, she would have 10 years to do so under
 MCL 600.5809(3). [Id. at 77.]

Moreover, Dorko cited with approval Rybinski and O'Leary in holding that the 10-year limitations
period applies to postjudgment filings within a divorce action as well as independent enforcement

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 actions. Id. at 78 n 6. There is simply no way to read Dorko as invalidating the holdings of
O'Leary, Rybinski, and Torakis.3

 Accordingly, the trial court did not err by determining that defendant's claim for
reimbursement of retirement benefits owed under the divorce judgment was not barred by MCL
600.5809(3). Citizens Ins Co, 268 Mich App at 662. Although we decide this case on legal rather
than equitable grounds, we note that the equities also favor this resolution; plaintiff was aware that
the judgment of divorce, which was final, gave defendant a right to a portion of her retirement
funds upon her retirement, just as she is entitled to a portion of his upon his retirement. Her
interests were secured by properly-filed QDROs, while his interest was not secured, due to mere
human error. Plaintiff does not "lose" anything by disgorging the funds that she always knew
belonged to defendant under the terms of the divorce judgment. Further, defendant acted promptly
to secure his rights once the required payments came due and the issue of the missing QDRO was
discovered. To the extent that plaintiff argues that the doctrine of laches also bars defendant's
claim for reimbursement, we disagree. See In re Contempt of United Stationers Supply Co, 239
Mich App 496, 503-504; 608 NW2d 105 (2000).

 Affirmed.4

 /s/ Anica Letica
 /s/ Mark T. Boonstra
 /s/ Philip P. Mariani

3
 Contrary to plaintiff's argument on appeal, the plaintiff in Dorko did not seek repayment of
benefits due under the divorce judgment, but only sought to enter a proposed QDRO concerning
those benefits. The issue in Dorko was thus whether the request for entry of a QDRO was subject
to the limitations period of MCL 600.5809(3). The Court held that "although MCL 600.5809(3)
does not apply to defendant's request for entry of a proposed QDRO, it would apply to any attempts
she made to recover retirement benefits plaintiff has received in violation of the substantive
requirements of the divorce judgment." Dorko, 504 Mich at 78. But as stated, it did not alter the
relevant caselaw holding that the limitations period begins when the monetary obligation under
the divorce judgment comes due.
4
 Because we affirm the trial court's holding in favor of defendant, we need not address plaintiff's
claim that defendant's motion was frivolous, or the accompanying request for attorney fees.

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