## Facts

- Richard E. Whorrall sued Ilene Crafton Whorrall for divorce and division of the marital estate in a Texas district court.
- Richard worked for the same employer for about 21 years before the marriage and continued working there throughout the roughly five-and-one-half-year marriage.
- When Richard retired during the marriage, his employer provided ordinary retirement benefits and a separate, special $75,000 early-retirement payment payable in installments over three years.
- By the time of the divorce proceedings, Richard had received part of the special payment, and $43,751.40 remained payable in future installments.
- The employer’s personnel-administration manager testified the special payment was a rare, discretionary incentive tied to eliminating Richard’s position and encouraging early retirement to reallocate manpower.
- The trial court treated the special payment as community property and divided both amounts already received and future installments between the spouses.
- Richard appealed, arguing the special payment was his separate property because it was effectively earned by years of service that largely preceded the marriage.

## Issues

1. Whether the $75,000 early-retirement incentive was community property because the right to it arose during the marriage, or separate property because it purportedly compensated premarital service.
2. Whether the evidence was factually sufficient to support the trial court’s findings regarding the community’s interest in the payment.

## Decision

- The court of appeals affirmed the judgment characterizing and dividing the special early-retirement payment as community property as supported by the evidence.
- The court rejected Richard’s claim that the payment should be treated as separate property based solely on the length of premarital employment.
- The court held the trial court’s findings on the community’s interest were not so against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence as to be manifestly unjust.

## Legal Principles

- Property acquired during marriage is presumed community property; a spouse claiming separate character bears the burden to overcome the presumption.
- The characterization of employment-related benefits turns on when and how the right to the benefit accrued, not merely on the employee’s total years of service.
- A discretionary, event-driven incentive offered to induce early retirement during marriage may be treated as community property when the right to the payment is triggered by decisions and circumstances arising during the marriage.
- On factual-sufficiency review, an appellate court considers all evidence and reverses only if the finding is so contrary to the great weight and preponderance of the evidence as to be manifestly unjust.

## Conclusion

The court upheld division of a discretionary early-retirement incentive because the right to the payment arose during the marriage from an employer offer tied to the elimination of the employee’s position and the employee’s retirement decision, and the evidence supported the trial court’s determination of the community’s interest.


Whorrall v. Whorrall, 691 S.W.2d 32 (Tex. App.—Austin 1985)