Battle over RI police major's pension has court answering - who is a surviving spouse?

PROVIDENCE – The former wife of a retired Providence police major struck out in her claim that she, rather than the man's wife at the time of his death, was the beneficiary of his retirement benefits as part of their 1994 divorce.

The case centered on who was legally considered Mike Wilson's surviving spouse – his ex-wife or his wife at the time of his death.

A Superior Court judge ruled last week that Marilyn Wilson was not entitled to the pension of her ex-husband, the late Providence Police Maj. Milton R. “Mike” Wilson, but that the benefits should, under state law and city ordinance, instead flow to his wife at the time of his death in December 2020. The judge's decision contradicted an agreement recorded in divorce proceedings decades earlier in Family Court.

Mike Wilson joined the Providence Police Department in 1957, a graduate of the city’s 18th Police Academy. He was promoted to sergeant in 1967 and lieutenant four years later, rising to captain and eventually major in 1983. In that role, he led the Detective Bureau, according to his obituary.

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Divorce settlement gives benefits to ex-wife

According to the ruling, Marilyn and Mike Wilson married in 1988. Marilyn Wilson filed for divorce six years later.

Mike Wilson retired before the final divorce judgment could be entered. He applied for service retirement on Dec. 27, 1994, submitting for retirement benefits to the Employee Retirement System on March 15, 1995. He selected the “maximum retirement allowance with continuing benefits to [his] wife (Marilyn Wilson) immediately upon [his] death," according to the lawsuit.

On April 29, 1995, Marilyn and Mike Wilson executed a Property Settlement Agreement to divide their property and to determine support obligations. That agreement specified that Mike Wilson “shall nominate [Marilyn] as the designated beneficiary to receive his survivor pension benefits from the City of Providence.”

In June 1, 1995, the state's Family Court entered a decision, pending the entry of a final judgment, that incorporated the terms of the agreement by reference but did not merge the terms into the final judgment.

Mike Wilson married Diane Wilson in 1997 and the couple lived together and shared property and financial resources until his death on December 5, 2020, according to the suit. Upon his death, the City of Providence began paying surviving spouse benefits to Diane Wilson.

Ex-wife sues for benefits

In January 2021, Marilyn Wilson, through her lawyers Robert P. Brooks and Stephen D. Lapatin, contacted Deputy City Solicitor Kenneth B. Chiavarini, claiming she was entitled to surviving spouse benefits based on the divorce decree. Chiavarini replied that any death benefit under Wilson’s maximum option pension would have been used up about 10¼ years after his retirement, leaving none remaining to be paid to Marilyn Wilson as the designated beneficiary. He also informed Marilyn Wilson that the surviving spouse benefit, based on state law, was to be paid to the current surviving spouse, the ruling states.

Marilyn Wilson filed for relief in Family Court, which declined to rule on whether the city was required to pay her the surviving spouse benefits.

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In March 2022, Marilyn Wilson filed a complaint in Superior Court against the City of Providence, alleging breach of contract and that she be declared the recipient of the surviving spouse benefit.

That November, Diane Wilson filed a cross-claim against the city, seeking a declaration that she was Mike Wilson's surviving spouse and was entitled to his surviving spouse pension benefits.

Superior Court Judge Melanie Wilk Thunberg heard arguments in the case in May.

Who is the surviving spouse?

According to the ruling, Marilyn Wilson argued that she was Mike Wilson's surviving spouse and entitled to the benefits because both state law and city ordinance governing the pensions lack an anti-alienation provision. She also asserted that there was nothing in the law or the ordinance restricting the surviving spouse to being the person married to the retiree upon their death.

Diane Wilson countered that she was the surviving and dependent spouse based on the plain meaning of the word “spouse,” defined as someone united to another person by marriage who is living and not divorced, and because they were married at the time of his death.

The city bolstered Diane Wilson's position, stating that under the mandatory language of the ordinance, the City Council’s clear intent was to ensure the economic security of the surviving spouses of police officers.

A matter of first impression in RI

Judge Thunberg determined that “Contrary to Marilyn’s argument … the term `spouse’ by itself refers to a person who is lawfully married, rather than a person who was previously lawfully married.”

“Additionally,” the judge said, “there is absolutely nothing in the language of the statute or ordinance to indicate that the term `spouse’ should encompass a person’s `ex-spouse” ‘or ‘former spouse.’”

The judge concluded that state law and the ordinance were clearly intended to provide financial support to the spouse or the minor children of a deceased retiree at a time during which they could be financially vulnerable.

The city asserted that the question of whether a final judgment of divorce can divest a surviving spouse of a statutorily guaranteed right to a pension benefit is one of first impression in Rhode Island, but expressed no opinion otherwise, according to the ruling.

Thunberg emphasized that the property settlement agreement was incorporated, but not merged into the final judgment in the Wilsons’ divorce. Accordingly, she said, the agreement was not enforceable as a judgment of the Family Court, but instead, was enforceable as a property settlement agreement made between Marilyn Wilson and Mike Wilson.

“Here, even assuming that the Property Settlement Agreement grants Marilyn the surviving spouse benefit, such a provision would be void for violating the clear mandate[s]” governing retiree benefits under state law and city ordinance, the ruling said.

“Further, contrary to Marilyn’s argument, the Court’s holding will not destabilize the finality of divorce decrees or undermine the authority of the Family Court,” the judge wrote. “The Court’s decision merely reflects that a property settlement agreement which attempts to grant a spouse property in violation of the law is ineffectual.”

The judge ruled that “notwithstanding the Property Settlement Agreement and Final Judgment of Divorce, Diane Wilson, rather than Marilyn Wilson, is Mr. Wilson’s ‘surviving’ and ‘dependent spouse’ under the material, undisputed facts of this case and pursuant to the plain and unambiguous language” of state law and city ordinance.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI court battle over retired cop's pension benefit pits ex against current wife