LexyCorpus case page
CourtListener opinion 2828906
Date unknown · US
- Extracted case name
- In re the Marriage of Wood Throughout most of the marriage
- Extracted reporter citation
- 928 P.2d 1108
- Docket / number
- Zale Wood next contends that the trial
Machine-draft headnote
Machine-draft public headnote: CourtListener opinion 2828906 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“house between the parties, awarded Diane $5,630 for back maintenance, and granted Diane $4,094 in future monthly maintenance. The proposed decree directed that future maintenance be reduced proportionate to the amount of payment Diane monthly receives from qualified domestic relations orders on Zale's pensions. On September 3,2013, Zale Wood's attorney withdrew. On September 18,2013, the day of the second hearing for entry of the final decree, Zale moved to continue the hearing because he had yet to replace his lawyer. The trial court denied the motion to continue. Zale argued, without counsel, the merits of the entry of the findings and”
pension“il their separation. The couple begat and nurtured two now adult children. No. 32022-7-111 In re the Marriage of Wood Throughout most of the marriage, Zale worked in construction as a member of the Teamsters Union. He retired and began drawing a Teamsters pension in 2002, but still continued to work on occasion. The Teamsters pension was a principal retirement asset. Diane worked as a homemaker throughout the marriage. In 2009, Diane and Zale Wood separated. PROCEDURE On April 7, 2009, Diane Wood filed a petition for legal separation. Diane later converted the separation petition to a divorce petition. In he”
domestic relations order“een the parties, awarded Diane $5,630 for back maintenance, and granted Diane $4,094 in future monthly maintenance. The proposed decree directed that future maintenance be reduced proportionate to the amount of payment Diane monthly receives from qualified domestic relations orders on Zale's pensions. On September 3,2013, Zale Wood's attorney withdrew. On September 18,2013, the day of the second hearing for entry of the final decree, Zale moved to continue the hearing because he had yet to replace his lawyer. The trial court denied the motion to continue. Zale argued, without counsel, the merits of the entry of the findings and”
valuation/division“d maintenance between February 1,2013 and July 31, 2013. She sought future maintenance in the sum of $4,50 1 monthly and an award of reasonable attorney fees and costs. The findings and conclusions listed Zale's worker compensation payments as the couple's community property. On August 8, 2013, the day before the hearing, Zale Wood filed an objection to the amount of maintenance in the proposed findings, Diane Wood's request for attorney fees, and to Diane's inclusion of her separate credit cards as community liabilities. On August 9, 2013, the court conducted a hearing to enter findings of fact, conclusions of law, and a”
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
- reporter: 928 P.2d 1108 · docket: Zale Wood next contends that the trial
- 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
FILED AUG. 20, 2015 In the Office of the Clerk of Court W A State Court of Appeals, Division III IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON DIVISION THREE IN THE MATTER OF THE MARRIAGE ) OF: ) No. 32022-7-III ) DIANEL. WOOD ) ) Respondent, ) ) UNPUBLISHED OPINION and ) ) ZALE K. WOOD, ) ) Appellant. ) FEARING, J. -. Zale Wood assigns error to most rulings of the trial court in his divorce action with Diane Wood, Zale's wife for forty-nine years. Since the trial court applied the correct legal standards and properly exercised its discretion, we affirm the judgment and decree of marital dissolution entered below. FACTS Diane and Zale Wood married on July 5, 1960 in Yakima. In 1980, the Woods purchased a Yakima County home on seventeen acres, and they resided together in the home until their separation. The couple begat and nurtured two now adult children. No. 32022-7-111 In re the Marriage of Wood Throughout most of the marriage, Zale worked in construction as a member of the Teamsters Union. He retired and began drawing a Teamsters pension in 2002, but still continued to work on occasion. The Teamsters pension was a principal retirement asset. Diane worked as a homemaker throughout the marriage. In 2009, Diane and Zale Wood separated. PROCEDURE On April 7, 2009, Diane Wood filed a petition for legal separation. Diane later converted the separation petition to a divorce petition. In her petition, Diane stated that her monthly income was $577.40 in Socifll Security benefits and her monthly expenses were $4,516.00. Diane listed Zale's monthly income as $8,932.10. On May 18,2009, the trial court issued temporary orders requiring Zale Wood to pay Diane $2,221 per month in spousal maintenance and the two home mortgage payments in the aggregate of $1,779 per month. The maintenance and mortgage payments amounted to $4,000 per month. Diane continued to reside in the family home. On January 4, 2010, the trial court lowered Zale's spousal maintenance obligation to $1,190 per month, in light of his temporary unemployment. The trial court continued to order Zale to pay the two mortgage payments, and the court ordered Zale to notifY Diane once he started work again or garnered unemployment benefits. In April or May 2010, Zale Wood returned to work, but did not notifY Diane or the court. On September 16,2010, Zale suffered serious injuries in a workplace accident. 2 No. 32022-7-III In re the Marriage of Wood The injuries prevented Zale from working, and he began receiving worker compensation benefits. On May 6,2011, Zale Wood moved the court for an order allowing him to retrieve his personal property from the Woods' residence and holding Diane in contempt for selling the martial community's animals, without accounting for the sales. In response, Diane agreed that Zale could retrieve his personal property at any time. During oral argument before this appeals court, Zale's counsel could not answer whether Zale has garnered all of his personal property. Wash. Court of Appeals oral argument, In re the Marriage of Wood, 32022-7-III (June 10,2015) at 7:40. At oral argument, Diane's counsel stated that Zale collected all of his personal property. Wash. Court of Appeals oral argument, In re the Marriage of Wood, 32022-7-III (June 10,2015) at 15:50). On May 12,2011, Diane Wood requested an increase in maintenance. On June 1, 2011, the trial court increased Zale Wood's spousal maintenance obligation to $1,750 per month and continued the direction for Zale to pay the two mortgage payments. The court ordered Diane to provide an accounting of the proceeds from any animal sales. The trial court also ordered the parties to arrange a time for Zale to visit the Yakima property and retrieve his possessions. On August 29, 2011, the trial court found Zale Wood in contempt for willful violation of the June 1 maintenance order. The court awarded Diane Wood $1,650 in 3 No. 32022-7-III In re the Marriage of Wood maintenance owed between June 1 and August 31; $1,300 in attorney fees due by November 30, 2011; and $500 in attorney fees due by December 31, 2011. The marriage dissolution proceeded to trial on April 9, 2013. At trial, Diane proposed raising Zale Wood's maintenance obligation to $2,996, but relieving him of the mortgage payments. Diane filed a current benefits statement she received from the Social Security Administration, stating that her monthly benefit, after Medicare deductions, was $651, for a yearly total of$7,812. During the quarrelsome trial, the trial court declined to consider Zale or Diane Wood's conduct regarding preservation of the financial wealth of the marital estate. The court commented: A lot of times in these situations people want to talk about who spent the money during the divorce, where the money went during the divorce and the truth is it doesn't matter. We are where we are and the debt is what it is as of-at least as of the date of separation. Debt incurred after separation may be the responsibility of the person incurring that debt but for money that was badly invested, poorly spent, whatever, before the separation, that's part of marriage and so we're not going to spend a lot of time talking about who spent what during the marriage because it ends up not making any difference. Like I said, you are where you are. Report of Proceedings (RP) (Apr. 9, 2013) at 10-11. In addition to Zale claiming Diane squandered property, Diane argued that Zale lost money on gambling. On April 10,2013, the trial court issued an oral ruling awarding the Yakima home and acreage to Zale Wood and ordering Diane Wood to cooperate in its sale; requiring Zale to continue paying both mortgages; awarding Diane the personal property in the 4 No. 32022-7-III In re the Marriage of Wood house, except for Zale's clothes, tools, stock truck, and tractor; and granting the divorce. The trial court further ruled: I'm going to equalize the income. Yes, the L&I is Mr. Wood's separate property. But when I'm considering how to divide things, I'm considering ... what's the ... relative financial condition of the parties and so on and this L&I ... is designed as a replacement for income that he would have been getting and so ... Ijust factor that in. So, basically it's going to be-she gets her Social Security. He gets his L&I and then the various pension payments and so on would be divided so that net they come out equal in terms of what their monthly income is. Then if ... there's a change in the L&I, either up or down, that would by agreement of the parties, would be considered grounds for modification and so I'm ordering that when there's a determination made on the future of that L&I, if there's any change to it, then that can be brought back to Court if you can't agree on how it should be changed. You can bring it back to Court for modification of the maintenance. RP (Apr. 102013) at 169. The division of the parties' combined income would begin on April 15, 2013. Zale Wood would pay $1,750 in maintenance payments per month until the couple's property sold. On May 22,2013, Diane Wood moved the court to hold Zale in contempt for failing to comply with the June 1,2011 maintenance order; the August 29,2011 contempt order; and the April 10,2013 trial oral ruling. On May 31, 2013, the court held Zale in contempt for making untimely and incomplete maintenance payments. The court ordered him to pay $300 in back maintenance and $250 in attorney fees. Nevertheless, the trial court denied Diane's request to hold Zale in contempt for unpaid maintenance payments equivalent to her share of his pensions, noting that Diane needed to determine whether 5 No. 32022-7-111 In re the Marriage of Wood she was entitled to more social security benefits before the court could finalize Zale's maintenance obligation. On July 30, 2013, Diane Wood noted a hearing for August 9 to present proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law, and a decree of dissolution. Diane proposed a judgment against Zale for $7,986 in unpaid maintenance between February 1,2013 and July 31, 2013. She sought future maintenance in the sum of $4,50 1 monthly and an award of reasonable attorney fees and costs. The findings and conclusions listed Zale's worker compensation payments as the couple's community property. On August 8, 2013, the day before the hearing, Zale Wood filed an objection to the amount of maintenance in the proposed findings, Diane Wood's request for attorney fees, and to Diane's inclusion of her separate credit cards as community liabilities. On August 9, 2013, the court conducted a hearing to enter findings of fact, conclusions of law, and a decree of dissolution. Zale Wood informed the trial court that the Yakima property sold with a net profit of approximately $8,000. Diane stated that she contacted the social security administration, and it informed her that she was entitled to no additional benefits. The parties agreed to reduce Zale's maintenance obligation if Diane incurred more social security benefits in the future. Zale continued to object to the amount of maintenance proposed by Diane, and he argued that the maintenance calculation did not reflect a reduction in his worker compensation benefits. The trial court expressed frustration with the parties' failure to perform arithmetic calculations, 6 No.3 2022-7-III In re the Marriage of Wood and he ordered them to cooperate to revise the final orders to accurately reflect Zale's current monthly income from pensions and benefits. Two weeks later, Diane Wood rescheduled entry of the final decree of dissolution, and findings and conclusions for September 18,2013. Diane mailed a copy of her proposed order to Zale Wood's attorney on August 21,2013, before she rescheduled a hearing. The second version of the proposed findings still listed Zale's worker compensation benefits as community property. The second proposed decree divided the net proceeds from the sale of the house between the parties, awarded Diane $5,630 for back maintenance, and granted Diane $4,094 in future monthly maintenance. The proposed decree directed that future maintenance be reduced proportionate to the amount of payment Diane monthly receives from qualified domestic relations orders on Zale's pensions. On September 3,2013, Zale Wood's attorney withdrew. On September 18,2013, the day of the second hearing for entry of the final decree, Zale moved to continue the hearing because he had yet to replace his lawyer. The trial court denied the motion to continue. Zale argued, without counsel, the merits of the entry of the findings and conclusions and contended that the facts did not support the trial court's oral ruling. Zale objected to the amount of maintenance that the trial court ordered him to pay. At the close of the September 18 hearing, the trial court entered the findings of fact, conclusions of law, and divorce decree as proposed by Diane. 7 No. 32022-7-II1 In re the Marriage of Wood Zale Wood obtained new counsel on September 23, 2013. On September 30, 2013, Zale moved for reconsideration, which motion the trial court denied. LAW AND ANALYSIS On appeal, Zale Wood contends: (1) the trial court abused its discretion in denying Zale's motion to continue the September 18,2013 presentment hearing, (2) the trial court violated article IV, section 20 of the Washington Constitution and RCW 2.08.240 by failing to provide Zale a final decision within ninety days of the trial, (3) the trial court abused its discretion in denying Zale a court order to retrieve personal property from the Woods' former residence, (4) the trial court abused its discretion by excluding testimony at trial regarding the parties' contributions and misconduct during their forty-nine year marriage, (5) the trial court erred in taking into consideration Zale's monthly social security and worker compensation disability benefits when calculating Diane's spousal maintenance award, (6) the trial court abused its discretion under RCW 26.09.090 in awarding spousal maintenance, and (7) the trial court abused its discretion under RCW 26.09.080 in its division of the parties' assets and liabilities. We address the contentions in such order. Issue 1: Whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying Zale Wood's motion to continue the September 18,2013 presentment hearing? Answer 1: No. We first address two purported procedural errors assigned by Zale Wood. Zale 8 No. 32022-7-III In re the Marriage of Wood . argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to continue the September 18, 2013 hearing, after his attorney withdrew on September 3,2013. Zale argues that, even though Diane Wood complied with CR 52(b)'s requirement of giving lO-days' notice of entry of final orders to the opposing party, he lacked time to review the findings of fact and conclusions of law due to his residence in Puyallup and his attorney's withdrawal. Zale asserts prejudice as a result of the trial court's denial of his motion to continue the presentment hearing until he could hire another attorney. Diane responds that Zale's motion for a continuance was untimely and meritiess, and she observes that the trial court gave Zale the opportunity to file a motion for reconsideration to correct any error in the findings of fact, conclusions of law, or dissolution decree. This court reviews a trial court's denial of a motion for a continuance for manifest abuse of discretion. Molsness v. City of Walla Walla, 84 Wn. App. 393,400,928 P.2d 1108 (1996). A trial court manifestly abuses its discretion if no reasonable person would take the view adopted by the court. Eagle Pac. Ins. Co. v. Christensen Motor Yacht Corp., 85 Wn. App. 695, 709, 934 P.2d 715 (1997), aff'd, 135 Wn.2d 894, 959 P.2d 1052 (1998). We hold that the trial court below did not abuse its discretion in denying Zale Wood's motion for a continuance. Although his attorney's withdrawal created inconvenience, Diane Wood provided Zale ample notice of presenting the final orders to the trial court. During the presentment hearing, Zale did not argue that orders prepared 9 No. 32022-7-III In re the Marriage of Wood by Diane failed to reflect the trial court's oral rulings or that Zale needed an attorney to draft a correct version of the orders to mirror the trial court's rulings. Zale instead continued his ongoing objection to the amount of maintenance the trial court ordered and the trial court's division of property. Thus, Zale was not prejudiced by the trial court's denial of his motion for a continuance, and we find no abuse of discretion in denying the motion to continue. Issue 2: Whether the trial court violated article IV, section 20 ofthe Washington Constitution and RCW 2.08.240 by failing to issue afinal decision within 90 days? Answer 2: No. Zale Wood next contends that the trial court violated article IV, section 20 of Washington's Constitution, and RCW 2.08.240 by deferring, during its April lO, 2013 oral ruling, his duty to value assets and liabilities until a later date. Zale argues that the intervening five months between the trial court's oral ruling and the entry of written findings of fact, conclusions of law, and the decree of dissolution resulted in Diane Wood, not the court, deciding the material facts and issues in the case favorable to her. He complains that the trial court failed to assign value to the family residence, household goods, personal property, or liabilities of the parties, which failure misled him to conclude his divorce was not final. Diane Wood responds that the parties understood the trial court's oral ruling as shown by Zale's listing and selling the Yakima property prior to entry of the final decree lO No. 32022-7-III In re the Marriage 0/ Wood of dissolution and in compliance with the oral ruling. She maintains that the only dispute unresolved after trial was whether she might be eligible for an increase in social security benefits. Diane observes that Zale never objected to the trial court's direction that the parties sell their home and gather more information about Diane's social security benefits before presenting final orders. Article IV, section 20 of Washington's Constitution provides, in relevant part: \Every cause submitted to a judge of a superior court for his decision shall be decided by