In Re Marriage of Stenquist

The California Supreme Court in In re Marriage of Stenquist (1978) 21 Cal.3d 779 [ 148 Cal.Rptr. 9 , 582 P.2d 96 ], determined that to permit a spouse, by unilateral election to receive a military disability pension instead of a retirement pension, would allow the spouse to transmute community property into separate property and thereby negate the protective philosophy of the community property law of California. Thus the Supreme Court approved an award to the wife of that portion of the husband’s disability pay which represented one-half of her community interest in what would have been her husband’s normal retirement pension. On remand from the Supreme Court, the superior court issued its order that all prior orders of the court as set forth in the interlocutory and final judgment should remain in full force and effect (Sept. 20, 1982). Long after the remittitur had issued in In re Marriage of Stenquist (Aug. 8, 1978), the husband, in reliance upon the decision of the United States Supreme Court in McCarty v. McCarty (1981) ( 453 U.S. 210 [ 69 L.Ed.2d 589 , 101 S.Ct. 2728 ]), ceased making payments to the wife. The wife sought, by a motion to compel, continuance of the…