Opinion ID: 1124423
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Applicable Domestic Relations Statutes

Text: A review of the pertinent domestic relations statutes is appropriate. K.S.A. 23-201 provides: (a) The property, real and personal, which any person in this state may own at the time of the person's marriage, and the rents, issues, profits or proceeds thereof, and any real, personal or mixed property which shall come to a person by descent, devise or bequest, and the rents, issues, profits or proceeds thereof, or by gift from any person except the person's spouse, shall remain the person's sole and separate property, notwithstanding the marriage, and not be subject to the disposal of the person's spouse or liable for the spouse's debts. (b) All property owned by married persons, including the present value of any vested or unvested military retirement pay, whether described in subsection (a) or acquired by either spouse after marriage, and whether held individually or by the spouses in some form of co-ownership, such as joint tenancy or tenancy in common, shall become marital property at the time of commencement by one spouse against the other of an action in which a final decree is entered for divorce, separate maintenance, or annulment. Each spouse has a common ownership in marital property which vests at the time of commencement of such action, the extent of the vested interest to be determined and finalized by the court, pursuant to K.S.A. 60-1610 and amendments thereto. Arrilla's filing of the divorce petition activated K.S.A. 23-201(b). We said in Cady v. Cady, 224 Kan. 339, 344, 581 P.2d 358 (1978): [T]he filing of a petition for divorce or separate maintenance creates a species of common or co-ownership in one spouse in the jointly acquired property held by the other, the extent of which is determined by the trial court pursuant to K.S.A. 1972 Supp. 60-1610(b). Except for those rights which vest by virtue of the filing of the divorce action, we in no way change the interest of one spouse in the property held by the other, or in the ability of the other spouse to convey, sell or give away such property. Both of the life insurance policies were obtained during the marriage of William and Arilla. Income earned during the marriage was used to pay the premiums. Under the facts here, these policies and the right to receive the insurance proceeds upon the death of the insured are marital property within the meaning of K.S.A. 23-201(b). In order to preserve the status quo between the divorcing parties as to marital property, K.S.A. 60-1607(a) authorizes the court to enter certain interlocutory orders including to (1) [j]ointly restrain the parties with regard to disposition of the property of the parties and provide for the use, occupancy, management and control of that property. At the February 14, 1994, hearing following the filing of Arilla's divorce petition, she sought orders for temporary custody of the children and temporary child support. William appeared pro se. He did not contest the award of temporary custody and support to Arilla. Arilla's attorney represented that he would prepare the journal entry. However, none was ever prepared or filed. No other temporary orders in the divorce action were requested by William or Arilla before her death. No restraining order as to disposition of marital property was either requested or entered. In finalizing a divorce, the district court is authorized under K.S.A. 60-1610(b) to make an equitable division of the marital property in the decree. No divorce decree was entered. William and Arilla did not reach a property settlement. A divorce action is purely personal and ends on the death of either spouse. See generally In re Marriage of Wilson, 245 Kan. 178, 777 P.2d 773 (1989). In Wilson, at the divorce hearing, the parties agreed on a property settlement, child custody and support, and maintenance, and the wife's attorney was directed to prepare the decree. However, 9 hours before the divorce decree and judgment were journalized and filed, the husband died. The wife then requested to be relieved from the decree. The district court, which was affirmed on appeal, held that the journal entry was void because the parties were still married at the time of the husband's death. If there is no divorce, there is no division of property. 245 Kan. at 181. Arilla died before any divorce decree or other order concerning the marital property was entered in the divorce action. A divorce action abates at the time of death.