In Re Marriage of Curtis

John and Virginia Curtis were married on October 18, 1957. In August 1974, Virginia Curtis obtained an interlocutory judgment of dissolution from the Alameda County Superior Court. Entry of the final judgment of dissolution was delayed until September 7, 1978—apparently so that she would be able to take advantage of medical benefits offered by her husband’s employer—the Navy. As a member of the United States military, John Curtis was entitled to military retirement benefits. Indeed, he retired from the Navy in 1975 and apparently has received military retirement benefits from that date forward. Neither the interlocutory judgment, nor the final judgment of dissolution, however, mentioned those benefits; i.e., the military retirement benefits were an omitted asset.

In October 1990, Virginia Curtis petitioned the superior court to reopen the matter in order to divide the military retirement benefits. On November 2, 1990, the superior court issued its minute order determining, as relevant here, that there was a 70 percent community property interest in John Curtis’s present and future military retirement benefits. He accordingly was ordered to pay Virginia Curtis 35 percent…