{ "id": 1875379, "name": "Maria H. WILES v. John H. WILES", "name_abbreviation": "Wiles v. Wiles", "decision_date": "1986-06-30", "docket_number": "86-75", "first_page": "340", "last_page": "342", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "289 Ark. 340" }, { "type": "parallel", "cite": "711 S.W.2d 789" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "Ark.", "id": 8808, "name": "Arkansas Supreme Court" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 34, "name_long": "Arkansas", "name": "Ark." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "10 ALR 3d 1371", "category": "reporters:specialty", "reporter": "A.L.R. 3d", "year": 1966, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "244 Ark. 1239", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ark.", "case_ids": [ 8726179 ], "weight": 2, "year": 1968, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ark/244/1239-01" ] }, { "cite": "222 Ark. 127", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ark.", "case_ids": [ 1653068 ], "weight": 2, "year": 1953, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ark/222/0127-01" ] }, { "cite": "47 Ark. 359", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ark.", "case_ids": [ 1888744 ], "year": 1886, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ark/47/0359-01" ] }, { "cite": "289 Ark. 3", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ark.", "case_ids": [ 1875351 ], "weight": 2, "year": 1986, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ark/289/0003-01" ] }, { "cite": "269 Ark. 523", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ark.", "case_ids": [ 1712481 ], "weight": 4, "year": 1980, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ark/269/0523-01" ] }, { "cite": "288 Ark. 33", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ark.", "case_ids": [ 8717237 ], "weight": 3, "year": 1986, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ark/288/0033-01" ] }, { "cite": "281 Ark. 261", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ark.", "case_ids": [ 1742375 ], "weight": 3, "year": 1984, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ark/281/0261-01" ] } ], "analysis": { "cardinality": 394, "char_count": 5219, "ocr_confidence": 0.883, "pagerank": { "raw": 1.3766149768398134e-07, "percentile": 0.639672621840115 }, "sha256": "9a535e98b7825c225ec26dddd4f6822a4d591fc534c6c5d04813b4073ab00c44", "simhash": "1:71f87c08166dc0f7", "word_count": 880 }, "last_updated": "2023-07-14T19:22:34.211418+00:00", "provenance": { "date_added": "2019-08-29", "source": "Harvard", "batch": "2018" }, "casebody": { "judges": [], "parties": [ "Maria H. WILES v. John H. WILES" ], "opinions": [ { "text": "Jack Holt, Jr., Chief Justice.\nThe sole issue to be decided in this appeal is whether to apply our decisions in Day v. Day, 281 Ark. 261, 663 S.W.2d 719 (1984) and Young v. Young, 288 Ark. 33, 701 S.W.2d 369 (1986) retroactively to a divorce decree which became final prior to the decisions in those two cases. Our jurisdiction is pursuant to Sup. Ct. R. 29(1 )(c) to interpret Act 705 of 1979.\nThe parties, John and Maria Wiles, divorced on November 16, 1982, after approximately 20 years of marriage. Mr. Wiles was in the military during the marriage. The decree provided:\n[T]he Court hereby specifically authorizes the Defendant to have all of the benefits for herself and her children under the new Former Spouses Protection Act of the United States Congress except that she is not entitled to any portion of any provision regarding present, past or future retirement benefits of the Plaintiff.\nArkansas law at the time provided that military retirement pensions were not \u201cmarital property\u201d under Ark. Stat. Ann. \u00a7 34-1214 (Repl. 1962). Paulsen v. Paulsen, 269 Ark. 523, 601 S.W.2d 873 (1980). Mrs. Wiles did not appeal from the decree.\nOn January 30, 1984, this court handed down Day v. Day, supra, in which we held that an employer-sponsored retirement plan was marital property subject to allocation. In so holding, we stated:\nAfter the adoption of Act 705 of 1979 we failed to give full effect to the new law and instead adhered to the position we had taken under a quite different statute. In Paulsen v. Paulsen, 269 Ark. 523, 601 S.W.2d 873 (1980), we decided that a military pension, currently being paid but not transferable, was not marital property. . . .\nWe now realize that we have inadvertently failed to recognize the new concept of \u201cmarital property,\u201d created by Act 705 of 1979, as amended. That statute defines marital property as all property acquired by either spouse subsequent to the marriage, with exceptions not important here. Section 34-1214 (Supp. 1983). That law directs that all marital property be distributed equally unless the court finds that division inequitable.\nIn Young v. Young, supra, we held that military retirement benefits also constitute marital property and that our prior holding in Paulsen was effectively overruled by Day and its progeny.\nOn September 9, 1982, the Uniformed Services Former Spouses\u2019 Protection Act, 10 USCA \u00a7 1408, was enacted into law and became effective February 1,1983. The Act permitted states, whose laws so provide, to divide military retired pay as marital property. See Durham v. Durham, 289 Ark. 3, 708 S.W.2d 618 (1986).\nOn April 30, 1985, the appellant, Mrs. Wiles, filed a complaint in chancery court seeking modification of the divorce decree. The portion of that complaint at issue here asked the chancery court to apply the Day decision retroactively and allow her a portion of Mr. Wiles\u2019 military retirement pension. The chancellor determined that Day should not be applied retroactively and dismissed that portion of the complaint. In so holding, the chancellor acknowledged that if Mr. and Mrs. Wiles had been divorced at any time following Day, Mrs. Wiles would have been entitled to make a claim for a portion of the pension. In refusing to allow her to do so now, the chancellor noted that the prior rule of law was relied upon when the decree was entered and that probably hundreds of divorces were granted between the dates of the passage of the Uniformed Services Former Spouses\u2019 Protection Act and the Day decision, and a retroactive application may very well burden the administration of justice.\nWe find the principle of reliance to be persuasive and affirm the chancellor\u2019s holding on that basis.\nAlthough we have long held that a decision of this court, when overruled, stands as though it had never been, Taliaferro v. Barnett, 47 Ark. 359 (1886), we have also acknowledged the need, when overruling prior case law, to recognize the validity of actions taken in faith upon old decisions while stating the rules to be followed in the future. See Crisco v. Murdock Acceptance Corp., 222 Ark. 127, 258 S.W.2d 551 (1953). This court has also observed that no matter how a new rule of law is applied, the benefit of the new decision is denied to some injured persons when there is any change in the law. Parish v. Pitts, 244 Ark. 1239, 429 S.W.2d 45 (1968).\nHere, our previous holdings, even though ultimately determined to be erroneous, were justifiably relied upon by the parties and by the trial court when the original decree was entered. Since that time, the parties have restructured their lives, no doubt based in part on the terms of the decree. For this court to reopen the proceedings and cause a new division of property to be made, nearly four years later, would work a great hardship on the parties and would defeat the purposes underlying the doctrine of res judicata. See Annotation, 10 ALR 3d 1371,1403 \u00a7 8 [d] (1966).\nAccordingly, the chancellor\u2019s decree is affirmed.", "type": "majority", "author": "Jack Holt, Jr., Chief Justice." } ], "attorneys": [ "Redden & Hirby, by: Michael Redden, for appellant.", "Baim, Gunti, Mouser, Bryant & DeSimone, by: Judith A. DeSimone, for appellee." ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "Maria H. WILES v. John H. WILES\n86-75\n711 S.W.2d 789\nSupreme Court of Arkansas\nOpinion delivered June 30, 1986\nRedden & Hirby, by: Michael Redden, for appellant.\nBaim, Gunti, Mouser, Bryant & DeSimone, by: Judith A. DeSimone, for appellee." }, "file_name": "0340-01", "first_page_order": 366, "last_page_order": 368 }