Opinion ID: 2601692
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Corrective Order

Text: The Corrective Order supports this holding and clarifies how the new rule operates. Initially, when this court promulgated the new version of C.R.C.P. 16.2, the rule read effective January 1, 2005. Under this initial effective date clause, it may have been unclear whether, and to what extent, the new rules applied to post-decree motions filed after the effective date where the underlying case was filed before the effective date. To clarify this ambiguity, this court issued a Corrective Order on February 6, 2005, which provided that the rule was effective for Domestic Relations Cases ... filed on or after January 1, 2005 and for post-decree motions filed on or after January 1, 2005. The Corrective Order states that the new rule applies not only for new cases filed after the effective date but also for post-decree motions filed after the effective date. The court of appeals relied on the wording of the Corrective Order to hold that the new rule applies to post-decree motions filed after the effective date. See Roberts, 194 P.3d at 447. The court of appeals then applied C.R.C.P. 16.2(e)(10) to hold that the trial courts had jurisdiction to modify the property divisions in each case. Id. We agree with the court of appeals to the extent that C.R.C.P. 16.2 governs post-decree motions filed after January 1, 2005, for the resolution of matters raised by the post-decree motion. However, we disagree with the court of appeals' conclusion that the five-year retention provision extends jurisdiction to cases in which the disclosures were subject to the former rule. As discussed above, the heightened affirmative disclosure duties of C.R.C.P. 16.2(e)(1) govern domestic issues to be resolved under this Rule 16.2. The duties were not applicable to cases filed before January 1, 2005, which were subject to a different rule. Thus, the court of appeals' interpretation is contrary to the wording of the rule. Moreover, as noted by Justice Rovira, the application of heightened affirmative disclosure duties to cases filed before the new rule went into effect would lead to an illogical result. See Schelp, 194 P.3d at 454 (Rovira, J., dissenting). At the time the parties filed their petitions for dissolution, they could not anticipate that the rule would change and that additional duties would be imposed. Thus, we conclude that a retroactive application of the new version of C.R.C.P. 16.2(e)(10) to cases filed before January 1, 2005 would lead to the illogical result that some spouses who properly complied with the discovery requirements under the old rule were in violation of heightened requirements that went into effect after discovery had been completed.