We answer both questions in the affirmative. In equitable distribution actions, interest on any distributive award accrues from the date of entry of judgment, not from the date of separation. Here, we have two equitable distribution judgments, the 26 November 1996 original judgment and the 30 June 1998 judgment modifying the original one following defendant's first appeal. Our task is thus to analyze which judgment sets the date of accrual. Where a judgment is undisturbed on appeal, interest runs from the date of the original judgment.
Logic dictates the opposite result where a judgment is reversed or vacated on appeal.
In that situation, interest runs from the date of the amended judgment. Hysell v. Iowa Pub. Here, defendant appealed the initial equitable distribution judgment and won, resulting in the 30 June 1998 amended judgment. Accordingly, interest on his distributive award did not accrue until the date of that amended judgment. The trial court thus properly changed the date of accrual to 30 June 1998.