Flowers v. Flowers

In Flowers v. Flowers, 118 Ariz. 577, 580, 578 P.2d 1006, 1009 (App. 1978) (Jacobson, J., specially concurring) several types of "disability payments" were identified and categorized, including "semi-retirement disability" and "pure disability." The nature of such payments, as community or separate, depended on whether the asset was acquired by "onerous title" through the labor and industry of the husband or wife during the marriage, or by "lucrative title" through some other source. Id. at 580-81, 578 P.2d at 1009-10. Flowers concerned United States Civil Service disability retirement benefits. 118 Ariz. at 578, 578 P.2d at 1007. Due to the similarity between disability benefits and personal injury benefits, the court held such benefits were community property subject to apportionment. Id. at 579, 578 P.2d at 1008. The decision was based on the Arizona rule existing at the time: that damages recovered for personal injuries sustained during marriage were community property. Id.