Edward J. Primm v. Denise Otero Primm, 12 Va. App. 1036

Summary

The Court of Appeals of Virginia affirmed a pension award in a divorce proceeding that entitled the wife to twenty-five percent of the marital share of the husband's pension benefits as received, without a cap tied to the pension's stipulated present value. The court held that Virginia Code § 20-107.3(G) authorized this structure and that the award was consistent with Zipf v. Zipf.

Holdings

1. A court may award a spouse a percentage of pension benefits as the benefits are received without imposing a dollar cap, subject to the statutory limitation that the payment may not exceed fifty percent of the cash benefits actually received by the other party.
2. Zipf does not require a specific dollar cap when the pension payments will occur in the future rather than immediately.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a court may award a spouse a percentage of pension benefits payable as received, without imposing a dollar cap based on the pension's stipulated present value.
2. Whether Code § 20-107.3(G) or Zipf v. Zipf requires a specific dollar cap when the pension is not yet being received.

Disposition

affirmed