## Facts

- Michael A. Brewer and Deborah Q. Brewer married in 1988; no children were born of the marriage.
- Deborah was a full-time elementary school teacher with net monthly earnings of about $2,200–$2,300.
- Michael was a dentist until he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1991 and became permanently disabled.
- During the marriage, Michael obtained private disability policies (MONY and NYLIC); premiums were paid with community funds until the insurers waived premiums after disability.
- After disability, Michael received non-taxable monthly disability benefits totaling about $7,400 (private disability plus Social Security), which became his sole income.
- The marriage was dissolved in 1996.
- The trial court characterized the private disability benefits as Michael’s separate property and awarded future payments to him.
- The Court of Appeals held the disability payments were community property and remanded for reconsideration of the property distribution.
- The Washington Supreme Court granted review.

## Issues

1. Whether post-dissolution payments under a private disability policy acquired during marriage with community-funded premiums are separate or community property.
2. Whether such disability benefits are assets that may be considered and allocated in a dissolution property distribution.
3. Whether the trial court’s award of all future disability payments to the disabled spouse was a manifest abuse of discretion despite an incorrect characterization.

## Decision

- The court held the trial court incorrectly characterized the post-dissolution private disability payments as separate property; they were community in character to the extent attributable to the marital community.
- The court held the trial court did not abuse its discretion by awarding the future disability payments to Michael as part of an overall just and equitable distribution under RCW 26.09.080.
- The court affirmed in part and reversed in part the Court of Appeals, rejecting remand for reallocation because the overall distribution remained within the trial court’s discretion.

## Legal Principles

- Property acquired during marriage is presumptively community property absent a recognized exception or tracing to separate property.
- Private disability policies acquired during marriage and paid with community funds generally produce benefits that are community property in character, at least to the extent they replace earning capacity during the marital community.
- In dissolution, Washington courts must make a “just and equitable” distribution of all property and liabilities, whether community or separate, under RCW 26.09.080.
- Mischaracterization of an asset as separate rather than community does not require reversal if the overall distribution is equitable; appellate review focuses on manifest abuse of discretion.

## Conclusion

The court ruled that disability benefits from policies obtained and funded during marriage are community in character, but it upheld awarding all future payments to the permanently disabled spouse because the trial court’s overall property division was equitable and not a manifest abuse of discretion.


In re Marriage of Brewer, 137 Wash. 2d 756, 976 P.2d 102 (Wash. 1999)