Support Award With Future Decreases Built In Upheld

In Bruemmer v. Bruemmer, the Virginia Court of Appeals ruled that the trial court did not err in setting the original amount of spousal support and providing for time-related decreases in spousal support to reflect fact that the parties’ children were getting older, that their younger children were approaching college; and that the children were spending significant time with the father.  In addition, wife had an obligation to contribute to her own support and had significant assets of her own with significant passive income to do so.  Also, the court properly did not take into account husband’s contributions to his law firm’s retirement plan where the unrebutted testimony was that the contributions were were mandatory non-interest bearing deductions determined by vote of the partnership, not by the discretion of an individual partner, and the funds deducted would not be available to husband (who was a partner) for a number of years following his retirement or withdrawal from the firm.