Opinion ID: 1220145
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: cut-off date for evaluating the marital portion of gary's pension.

Text: Gary asserts that October 3, 1984, the date of the parties' separation, should have been used to determine when the marital contribution to his pension benefits ended. The trial court used October 15, 1985, just after trial, as the cut-off date. In Schanck v. Schanck, 717 P.2d 1, 3 (Alaska 1986), we stated: We decline to specify, as a matter of law, that the effective date when [post-separation] earnings become severable from marital property is at separation or at filing for divorce. Each case must be judged on its facts to determine when the marriage has terminated as a joint enterprise. At trial Gary testified that he believed Sheri should be responsible for half of almost $10,000 in charges made on his American Express account after separation because I believe that everything until this thing's final is equal, should be 50/50. The trial court apparently agreed since it included these American Express charges as a marital liability. He also testified that Sheri should be partly responsible for $23,300 in consumer credit that he incurred after separation. The trial court did not agree that these loans were marital liabilities. This testimony nonetheless indicates that in Gary's view the marriage continued as a joint enterprise until the trial. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in adopting October 15, 1985, as the date of termination of the joint enterprise and thus as the cut-off date for valuing Sheri's interest in Gary's pension.