Legal Question in Family Law in California
Property Division & Pension
RE: Property Division - I separated from my husband in 1998, we never filed a legal separation. We filed for divorce in 2001. I'm keeping the house and have made all of the payments myself since 1998. When calculating his share of the equity for buying him out, do I use the equity value as of 1998 when we separated or do I have to use the equity value as of 2001? If it is 2001, does he owe my for 1/2 the house payments for the last 3 years?
RE: Pension - I'm entitled to 1/2 of his pension (married 12+ years). Do we calculate the value of my share of his pension as of 1998 when we separated or 2001 when we filed for divorce?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Property Division & Pension
Property division: You divide the value as of date of trial or settlement (i.e., now). You do not get reimbursed for your payments, assuming you were living there when you made the payments.
Pension: You get 1/2 of the community property interest in the pension. If this is a defined benefit plan, it will be on a pro rata basis (we call it the Brown time line). If you were married 12 years and he worked 20 years, the c/p share is 60%, so you'd get 30% of the gross pension. If you are referring to a defined contribution plan (like a 401k), you would get one half of the value as of DOS, plus any increase in value on that portion (assuming he did not have $ in the plan as of DOM).
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