Merman v. Tillitski
Annotate this CaseSanna Mermann (f/k/a Tillitski, Wife), and Christopher Tillitski (Husband) were divorced in Bibb County pursuant to a decree signed on February 24 and filed on February 26, 2009. More than four years later, Wife submitted a QDRO to the trial court, which signed it on November 29, 2012. Wife claimed the long delay was caused by Husband's failure to give her necessary information and documents. On July 19, 2013, after realizing that Husband had not seen the QDRO, Wife filed a motion asking the court to vacate the QDRO and enter one approved by Husband. Husband agreed that the QDRO should be vacated, asserting that some of the information in it was incorrect. At the hearing on Wife's motion held on July 9, 2014, Husband argued that Wife should not receive any earnings on her portion of the IRAs that accrued after March 26, 2009 (the date 30 days after the settlement agreement) was signed by which she was supposed to have prepared the QDRO. Husband claimed that the 30-day deadline imposed on Wife was meant to limit her ability to benefit from the accounts' investments and that she should not be allowed to profit from her failure to comply with the divorce decree. The trial court agreed with Husband, and on August 25, 2014, entered an order vacating the QDRO, setting March 31, 2009 as the "date of calculating gains and losses to the total value of the SEP IRAs as of February 24, 2009," and requesting that the parties submit an amended QDRO within 30 days that "calculat[ed] [new] figures in accordance with [the trial court's] Order." Wife appeals that ruling. After review, the Supreme Court reversed the trial court's determination that March 31, 2009 was the proper "date [for] calculating gains and losses to the total value of the SEP IRAs as of February 24, 2009," and remanded the case for a more proper consideration of the parameters of any new QDRO to be submitted by the parties.
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