Hartley v. Hartley

OPINION

EASTAUGH, Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

■ John and Tina Hartley’s pre-divorce property settlement agreement awarded Tina fifty-seven percent of the monthly benefit accrued in John’s Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) defined benefit plan. The agreement did not specify whether Tina’s payments should be based on John’s highest three salary years during the marriage or upon his future retirement. Nor did it specify who should bear the cost of Tina’s FERS survivor benefit or how that benefit should be divided.

The superior court’s FERS qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) based Tina’s…