Caverly

Over the course of his career with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), some 15 years of which included his marriage to Mary Ann L. Gray (Caverly), James W. Gray has earned the right to receive a pension upon retirement through a defined benefit plan. James and *508 Mary Ann 1 were married in 1963 and they separated in 1979. Their interlocutory judgment of dissolution of marriage was filed in 1980. As to James’s pension, the judgment stated that the court would reserve jurisdiction over it until benefits would become due and payable, and then, “the Brown Formula shall be applied.” 2 (Italics added.)

In 2005, Mary Ann applied to receive her share of James’s monthly retirement benefit, with payment to begin in April 2006 when James would have 42 years of vesting credit towards his defined pension benefit. In response to the IBEW’s calculation of Mary Ann’s share of his monthly benefit in accordance with the “time rule,” 3 James filed a motion in the superior court for “Pension Division.” The motion asked the court to “determine the community interest” in James’s IBEW pension. In support of the *509 motion, James offered his understanding that the…