In Re Marriage of Colvin

Section 4800.8 of the Civil Code, enacted in 1986, broadly empowers the trial court to make whatever orders are necessary to ensure that each spouse receives his or her full community property share of any retirement plan, be it public or private. This appeal concerns the scope of the court’s discretion under section 4800.8 to allocate the community interest in a judicial pension plan where it previously divided the asset but reserved jurisdiction to supervise payments upon actual retirement.

Appellant, now-retired Judge Morton R. Colvin, urges that the trial court erred to his prejudice by refusing to allocate the community interest in his plan according to the method set forth in recent amendments to the Judges’ Retirement Law. Resort to this method would have reduced the monthly benefits available to his former spouse, respondent Doreen Glicksberg Colvin (Glicksberg) by roughly $681, while simultaneously increasing Colvin’s benefits by approximately $355 per month. Instead, the court (1) enforced an earlier order which divided the benefits under the “time rule” and (2) additionally granted Glicksberg a portion of any survivor benefits available after…