Court Opinion

ID: 9541679
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:27:45.045502+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:04:24.613115
License: Public Domain

MOSK, J.
I dissent.
By looking at the clause involved here in isolation, one could by a strained interpretation of a perceived ambiguity reach the conclusion urged by the wife and accepted by the majority.
However, if one examines the entire written agreement, the apparent intent of the parties assumes a different dimension. With respect to the sale of the family residence, the agreement provides: “[tjhe court reserves ju*475risdiction over this asset to make any further orders necessary to carry out this order.” No time limitation. With respect to husband’s retirement, it provides: “[t]he court shall retain jurisdiction over [husband’s] pension plan with P.G. & E. per In re Brown. ” No time limitation. The only temporal specification is in the alimony clause.
Had the parties intended the court to retain jurisdiction to award spousal support to continue beyond the prescribed date limitation of September 1, 1984, it would have been a simple matter to employ language similar to that used in connection with the family residence and husband’s pension. That it was not done strongly suggests a different intent.
The decree did not retain jurisdiction in the court to extend the period of spousal support, and under the statute (Civ. Code, § 4801, subd. (d)) the court lacked authority to grant wife’s request. (Faught v. Faught (1973) 30 Cal.App.3d 875, 878 [106 Cal.Rptr. 751].) I conclude, as did a unanimous Court of Appeal, that where as here the written agreement signed by the parties and their counsel and stipulated to in open court did not expressly reserve jurisdiction to award spousal support that would extend beyond September 1, 1984, the trial court erred in purporting to modify the interlocutory judgment to provide such support. The modification is particularly egregious in that the support order is now completely unlimited as to time, subject only to the death of either party, the remarriage of the wife, or further order of the court. (Lovitz v. Lovitz (1976) 65 Cal.App.3d 299, 303 [135 Cal.Rptr. 9]; Maben v. Superior Court (1967) 255 Cal.App.2d 708, 712 [63 Cal.Rptr. 439].)
I would reverse the order.
Broussard, J., concurred.