Walters

We are called upon to decide whether in a bifurcated marital dissolution proceeding the community property should *537 be valued at the time the marital relationship is dissolved or at the time the community property is divided by the court. We treat the question as one of first impression.

Cynthia Walters (wife) appeals from the judgment dividing the community property in which the court evaluated the community residence at $50,000, its value at time of trial in which the property was divided. Her sole contention on appeal is that the property should have been valued at $26,000, its value two years earlier wfren the marriage was dissolved.

On October 15, 1975, the wife obtained an interlocutory judgment of dissolution of her marriage from her husband, Jack Walters, by default. The judgment also granted the residence to the wife as her separate property. On June 9, 1977, the trial court granted the husband’s motion “to vacate all community property provisions in the Interlocutory Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage entered on October 15, 1975 . . . .” This order had the effect of restoring the previously existing property status and the situation was the same as if the…