Family Law News

California Family Law

AB 511 (Matthews) Sale of the family home. Existing law authorizes a court to grant an order temporarily delaying the sale of a home and awarding temporarily the exclusive use and possession of the family home, known as a deferred sale of home order, to a custodial parent in order to minimize the adverse impact on a child resulting from a dissolution of marriage or legal separation of the parties. This bill additionally sought to authorize the court to grant that order to the lower wage earner where the parties were in a long-term marriage and there is substantial disparity in the parties' relative economic situation. The bill also sought to require the court, in exercising its discretion to grant or deny a deferred sale of home order, to additionally consider the economic disparity between the parties, whether the resident party is responsible for caring for aged or disabled parents who have been residing in the family home, and whether the resident party operates a business out of the home and demonstrates a substantial likelihood that the party will be unable to relocate the business. Status: Dead; AsmJUD.

AB 539 (Maddox) Marital: liability; spousal debts. This bill provides that a one-year statute of limitations applies to actions brought against a surviving spouse for debts incurred for the necessaries of life of a deceased spouse unless the surviving spouse had actual knowledge of the debt prior to the expiration of the one-year period and the personal representative of the deceased spouse's estate failed to provide the creditor with timely written notice of the probate administration of the estate as required under the Probate Code. Status: Chapter 702, 2001.

AB 583 (Jackson) Disclosure requirements. This bill seeks to ensure that parties to a marital dissolution or legal separation, and the court, have complete, accurate information about the value of the community estate in order to ensure a fair division of any community assets and liabilities. Specifically, this bill provides that in valuing an asset for purposes of an award to the other spouse as a remedy for a breach of fiduciary duty, the value of the asset shall be its highest value at the date of the breach, the date of the sale or disposition of the asset, or the date of the award by the court. It further provides that the duty to update and augment required property disclosures must be undertaken immediately, fully, and accurately. The bill further revises the requirements that apply when parties stipulate to the waiver of the final declaration of disclosure, including adding a requirement that the parties have fully complied with other disclosure requirements and a requirement that the waiver be executed under penalty of perjury. Status: Chapter 703, 2001.

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	Did You Know?
	You may be able to leave your pension to your spouse or child. In general, if you are married, your spouse is entitled to a portion of your pension if you die first. There is some cost to that, however, that usually serves to reduce the monthly retirement payments you would have received if the benefits were to be paid just during your lifetime. If you and your spouse agree, you can waive this survivor benefit protection, and/or sometimes name some other person(s) (such as a child) as your beneficiary. Consult with your family lawyer and review the plan summary carefully to find out your rights and responsibilities in this area.