## Facts

- Kathryn and Miles Postema married in 1984.
- At marriage, Miles worked as a cost accountant; Kathryn was a licensed practical nurse pursuing an associate nursing degree.
- The couple agreed Miles would attend law school and Kathryn would postpone her schooling and work full-time to support the household.
- From 1984 to 1987, the parties lived in Detroit while Miles attended law school.
- Kathryn worked full-time at a hospital, earning about $53,000 during the law-school period, and assumed primary household and domestic responsibilities.
- Miles worked limited law-clerk jobs, earning about $12,000, and financed much of his education with about $15,000 in student loans.
- After graduation in 1987, Miles obtained associate attorney employment with a starting salary of about $41,000; the parties returned to the Grand Rapids area.
- Kathryn resumed nursing studies in 1987; the parties separated later that year and divorced in 1989.
- The divorce judgment treated Miles’s law degree as a marital asset, valued it at $80,000, and awarded Kathryn $32,000 as part of the property division; fault was cited as largely attributable to Miles.
- Miles appealed the characterization and valuation of the degree and the overall property division; Kathryn cross-appealed, arguing the valuation and her award were too low.

## Issues

1. Whether a professional degree obtained during marriage through joint marital efforts creates a compensable interest for the non-degree-earning spouse in the divorce property division.
2. If an interest exists, whether it should be valued by the degree’s projected future earnings or by a reimbursement-based measure tied to the supporting spouse’s sacrifices and contributions.

## Decision

- The court held that when a professional degree is obtained during marriage through a concerted family effort, the non-degree-earning spouse has an equitable, compensable claim arising from sacrifices and contributions that enabled the degree.
- The court rejected treating the degree as traditional divisible property valued by the present value of projected future earnings attributable to the degree.
- The proper remedy is reimbursement to the supporting spouse for sacrifices, efforts, and contributions made to obtain the degree, especially where divorce occurs before the supporting spouse can share in the economic benefits of the education.
- The court affirmed the divorce judgment in part but remanded for recalculation of the wife’s award because the trial court’s $80,000 “value of the degree” approach did not apply the correct methodology.

## Legal Principles

- A professional degree earned during marriage may support an equitable award to the non-degree-earning spouse when the degree results from a concerted family effort.
- The equitable award is compensatory and reimbursement-based; it is not a distribution of the professional’s future earnings stream.
- Valuation should focus on the supporting spouse’s measurable contributions and losses during the education period, including:
  - the degree-earner’s foregone earnings during schooling (difference between reasonable earnings and actual earnings, after tax);
  - marital funds spent on education costs (tuition, books, fees, and related expenses);
  - the supporting spouse’s postponed or subordinated education or career opportunities attributable to the marital plan;
  - other sacrifices that increased the supporting spouse’s burdens or reduced the marital estate.

## Conclusion

The court recognized an equitable claim for a spouse who substantially supported the other spouse’s attainment of a professional degree during marriage, but required that any award be calculated as reimbursement for contributions and sacrifices rather than by assigning a market “value” to the degree based on future earnings; the case was remanded to recalculate the wife’s award under that framework.


Postema v. Postema, 189 Mich. App. 89, 471 N.W.2d 912 (Mich. Ct. App. 1991)