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Young v. Anne Arundel County9/11/2002
In this appeal, we have been asked to decide whether Gail Young, appellant, the widow of Charles Young, Jr. (the "Decedent" or "Young"), is entitled to recover survivor pension benefits from Anne Arundel County (the "County"), appellee, under the County's Police Service Retirement Plan (the "Plan"). Young retired as a County police officer in September 1992, and was diagnosed with dementia in 1995, at the age of fifty-three. At the time of Young's death on October 19, 1997, he was survived by a minor child, Theresa Young; a sister, Susan Grier; and his wife, from whom he had separated.
Pursuant to a marital separation agreement (the "Separation Agreement" or "Agreement"), executed by appellant and Young in September 1996, the Youngs waived their respective rights to the other's retirement funds. In March 1997, the Decedent also executed a change of beneficiary form, naming his sister as the beneficiary under the Plan. The circumstances that led to the execution of the Separation Agreement and the change of beneficiary form are in dispute. Nevertheless, based on the Agreement, the County's Office of Personnel refused to award Young's pension benefits to appellant. Aggrieved by that determination, appellant filed a claim with the Anne Arundel County Board of Appeals (the "Board"). At a hearing on May 26, 1998, the Board refused to address appellant's challenges to the validity of the Agreement and change of beneficiary form, and denied her request for pension benefits.
Appellant then sought judicial review of the Board's decision in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County. On September 1, 1998, while the judicial review petition was pending, appellant filed a Complaint for Declaratory Judgment. The circuit court stayed the declaratory action and remanded the matter to the Board for further consideration of appellant's claims. Thereafter, the Board held an evidentiary hearing on May 27, 1999, but declined to consider the validity of the Agreement or change of beneficiary form. Presuming those documents to be valid, the Board rejected appellant's request for benefits.
The circuit court subsequently consolidated the declaratory action and appellant's second administrative review petition. The parties then filed cross-motions for summary judgment. Following a hearing, the court concluded, inter alia, that appellant waived any claim to Young's pension benefits when she executed the Separation Agreement. Accordingly, the court granted the County's summary judgment motion and denied appellant's motion.
On appeal, Ms. Young presents several issues for our consideration, which we have rephrased and reordered:
I. Whether appellant's status as the spouse of a retired, deceased police officer entitled her to the survivor benefits under the Plan.
II. Whether appellant could lawfully waive her rights to benefits under the Plan, pursuant to the marital separation agreement executed by appellant and Charles Young.
III. Was the waiver language in the separation agreement sufficient to constitute a waiver of benefits?
IV. Was the filing with Aetna of the Change in Beneficiary Form effective, as a matter of law, to deprive appellant of benefits under the Plan, despite her status as the spouse and joint annuitant of Charles Young?
V. Did the court err in granting summary judgment to the County as to the claims of duress and incapacity, because the validity and enforceability of the marital separation agreement presented disputes of material fact?
For the reasons that follow, we shall vacate the award of summary judgment and remand this case to the circuit court for further proceedings.
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