Court Opinion

ID: 9722163
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 09:18:22.313571+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:31.075099
License: Public Domain

*26STEPHENS, J.
I respectfully dissent.
As to the portion of the majority opinion treating the “Military Pension,” it is my opinion that the parties should be relieved of any binding effect of a “community property status” stipulation. During the pendency of this appeal, as the majority opinion points out, the United States Supreme Court declared the legal status of military pensions is not as was understood in California. Since it is obligatory on the trial court to divide equally the community property between the spouses, an artificial element should not be included in that division, i.e., that pension which is not legally community property. Here it is necessary to remand the case to the trial court for recomputation of division and I see no valid reason not to relieve the parties from what is now a legally erroneous stipulation.
As to the recomputation of the assets in the various house purchases, it appears to me necessary that the court reanalyze the status of these properties, i.e., they are either community property or joint tenancy (except such part which may maintain a separate property status). If the community has an interest, the court may divide it or impose obligations upon such interest, if it is not, an entirely different set of rules apply, each party having joint tenancy interests.
It appears to me that the record establishes that the instant case was tried upon a misconception of what was separate and what was community property from the pension, through the real property and the bank accounts into the funding of the airplane. I would therefore reverse the case in toto in order that the court might properly consider the case in all its aspects rather than piecemeal a reversal which may ultimately result in an injustice to one, or both, of the parties.
I would reverse and remand for retrial.
The petition of appellant Wife for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied October 21, 1981. Kaus, J., did not participate therein.