In re Marriage of Janes, 5/23/17
The funds from a husband’s retirement account, that were awarded to the wife in the parties’ marital settlement agreement, became the wife’s separate property on the date the agreement was executed, and any gains or losses on that money belonged to her pursuant to Fam. Code, § 770, subd. (a)(3). Thus, when the family court stated that the wife’s gains on those retirement funds were her separate property when it granted the wife’s request for a qualified domestic relations order four years later, the court was not modifying the parties’ marital dissolution judgment. The family court erred by valuing the retirement account as of the date of separation because the wife did not properly notify the husband of her request for the alternative valuation date. The account should have been valued close in time to the trial, which was a year after the date of separation. The court affirmed the lower court’s ruling, with directions.
