California Court Says That The Date Of A Couple’s Legal Separation Is Determined By When They Decided To Separate And Not When They Made The End Of Their Marriage Known To Others
The Fourth District Court of Appeals in California says that the date when a couple becomes legally separated is based on when they privately decided to separate rather than the date they set for court purposes. This decision reverses an earlier decision by a San Diego Judge in Orange County Superior Court.
The case involves Maureen and Samuel Manfer. They were married in 1973 and then mutually decided shortly after their 31st wedding anniversary in 2004 that they were separating. Samuel moved out, but both of them decided to keep the news of their separation private until after the end of the year because they didn’t want to upset their children before the holidays. The couple did not have sex together or share their finances, but they attended social occasions and traveled together from time to time.
When Samuel filed for divorce in April 2005, he cited March 15, 2005 as their date of separation. Maureen disagreed, saying that their separation date was July 1, 2004. The date of separation was significant, seeing as Maureen had made more money than Samuel, so Samuel was entitled to half of her income during the time that they were together—whether this time was until July 2004 or March 2005.
California is a community property state. This means that unless a couple signed a premarital agreement before they were married, each spouse is entitled to half of the net value of all property acquired and income earned during the duration of their marriage.
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