In Re Marriage Of G.C. And R.W.

232 Cal.Rptr.3d 484 (2018)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

R.W. and G.C. purchased a home together in New Jersey in 2002. In 2004, the couple entered into a New Jersey domestic partnership. They moved from New Jersey to New York in 2006 and married in Connecticut in 2009. R.W. and G.C. purchased a home in California in 2011 and moved to California that same year. G.C. filed a form petition for dissolution of marriage the following year. The court determined that the parties' date of marriage was February 6, 2009, the date G.C. and R.W. married in Connecticut. The court also concluded that the parties had separate property interests in the appreciation in the value of the marital residence, in amounts proportional to their separate property contributions to the downpayment. The court declined to award R.W. any permanent spousal support or to order that G.C. pay any of R.W.'s attorney fees. R.W. appealed from the judgment and an amended judgment that incorporated a revised statement of decision. R.W. claims that the trial court erred in determining that the parties' date of union was in 2009 when the parties married, rather than in 2004 when they entered into a domestic partnership under New Jersey law. R.W. also claims that the trial court erred in failing to divide equally the appreciation of the value of certain real property that the parties acquired as joint tenants during their marriage, as a community asset.