Court Opinion

ID: 9769300
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 14:44:14.091014+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:59.964079
License: Public Domain

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
The Arizona judgment did not divide the military retirement benefits which appellee accumulated during his years in the Army. Appellee was in the Army twenty-eight and one-half years, of which one and one-half years were served in community property states.
Appellant insists that she is entitled to one-half of the retirement benefits because she and appellee were living as husband and wife in California, a community property state, at the time the retirement program vested. Appellee contends, on the other hand, that only the part of the retirement benefits which accrued during the marriage of appellant and appellee while they resided in community property states is subject to division as community property.1
The “inception-of-title” rule is applied to determine the existence of a community-property interest in retirement benefits. Busby v. Busby, 457 S.W.2d 551 (Tex.1970), Davis v. Davis, 495 S.W.2d 607 (Tex.Civ.App.1973, writ dism’d). The logic of the “inception-of-title” rule, however, has not been pushed to a rigorous conclusion in determining the extent of the community interest. Dessommes v. Dessommes, 505 S.W.2d 673 (Tex.Civ.App.1973, application for writ pending). A number of the cases hold that the separate or community character of retirement benefits is to be determined by the status of the spouse at the time the benefit was earned. For example, if some of the benefits were earned while the employee spouse was unmarried, then that part is apportioned to him as his separate property. Webster v. Webster, 442 S.W.2d 786 (Tex.Civ.App.1969, no writ), Mora v. Mora, 429 S.W.2d 660 (Tex.Civ.App.1968, writ dism’d), Kirkham v. Kirkham, 335 S.W.2d 393 (Tex.Civ.App.1960, no writ), see Dessommes v. Dessommes, supra.
Likewise, benefits earned after marriage, but in a common law state, should be considered separate property of the employee spouse. Gaulding v. Gaulding, 503 S.W.2d 617 (Tex.Civ.App.1973, no writ), University of Texas: Hughes, Community-Property Aspects of Profit-Sharing and Pension Plans in Texas—Recent Developments and Proposed Guidelines for the Future, 44 Texas L.Rev. 860, 871 (1961), University of Texas, Dutton, The Wife’s Community Interest in Her Husband’s Qualified Pension or Profit-Sharing Plan, *72650 Texas L.Rev. 334, 340 (1972), see People v. Bejarano, 358 P.2d 866 (Colo.1961).
The motion for rehearing is overruled.

. In the trial of the cause and on appeal, the parties have regarded the point as one to be determined by Texas law. Moreover, in the absence of judicial knowledge of the applicable Arizona law, the laws of Texas govern. Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, rule 184a.