stating reimbursement alimony “is predicated upon economic sacrifices made by one spouse during the marriage that directly enhance the future earning capacity of the other”
How later courts described this case
- stating reimbursement alimony “is predicated upon economic sacrifices made by one spouse during the marriage that directly enhance the future earning capacity of the other”
- explaining, in reviewing an initial dissolution decree, that traditional alimony is “payable for life or so long as a spouse is incapable of self-support”
- stating prior cases “interchangeably used property awards and alimony” to compensate the non-student spouse
- “We conclude, however, that for marriages of short duration which are devoted almost entirely to the educational advancement of one spouse and yield the accumulation of few tangible assets, alimony—rehabilitative, reimbursement, or a combination of the two—rather than an award of property, furnishes a fairer and more logical means of achieving the equity sought under [our precedent].”
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
CARTER, Justice
(dissenting in part).
I believe the trial court was correct in concluding that the type of spousal reimbursement which is the primary issue on this appeal has all of the attributes of a property settlement. I would treat it as such rather than characterizing it as alimony.
ANDREASEN, J., joins this partial dissent.