Summary
In Morimando, the defendant wife was the sole wage earner while the plaintiff was enrolled full time in the physician's assistant program at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Moreover, the record therein was replete with illustrations of economic and social sacrifices endured by the defendant on account of the plaintiff's schooling.
Summary of this case from McGowan v. McGowanOpinion
December 30, 1988
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Burke, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is reversed, with costs, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Nassau County, for a determination of the valuation of the plaintiff's enhanced earning capacity as a result of his status as a physician's assistant and the defendant's equitable share thereof.
The enhanced earning capacity enjoyed by the plaintiff husband as a result of his successful completion of a full-time, two-year course of study culminating in registration as a physician's assistant with the Division of Professional Licensing Service of the New York State Department of Education and certification as a physician's assistant by the National Commission on Certification of Physician's Assistants is marital property (see, McGowan v McGowan, 142 A.D.2d 355; see also, O'Brien v O'Brien, 66 N.Y.2d 576). Accordingly, it is subject to the defendant wife's claim for equitable distribution. Thompson, J.P., Spatt, Sullivan and Harwood, JJ., concur.