Iske v. Iske

**Case Summary: Iske v. Iske** This case involved a divorced couple disagreeing about how to divide their property and retirement benefits. The main disputes centered on when their marriage effectively ended, the value of real estate they owned, and how to handle Social Security retirement benefits when splitting up their assets. The appeals court sided with the trial court on all major issues. The court ruled that the trial judge properly determined when the marriage ended for property division purposes, even though the evidence could have supported a different date. The court also upheld the trial judge's choice to accept one property expert's valuation over another's competing assessment. Most importantly, the court confirmed that Social Security retirement benefits cannot be divided between divorcing spouses, so the trial court correctly offset one spouse's Social Security against other retirement accounts when calculating the overall division. **What This Means for Workers:** This ruling reinforces that Social Security benefits remain yours individually - they cannot be split with an ex-spouse during divorce proceedings. However, courts can still consider your Social Security when dividing other retirement assets to ensure fairness. Workers going through divorce should understand that while their Social Security stays theirs, it may affect how other retirement benefits are divided.