R.W.

*5 I.

INTRODUCTION

R.W. appeals from a judgment of dissolution of his marriage with his former husband, respondent, G.C. 1 R.W. raises numerous claims on appeal, two of which we address in published portions of this opinion. First, 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. contends that the parties' New Jersey domestic partnership is "substantially equivalent" ( Fam. Code, § 299.2 ) 2 to a California domestic partnership such that it could be dissolved pursuant to section 299, and thus, that the court should have considered the date of the parties' domestic partnership to be the date of union for purposes of the dissolution. After interpreting the meaning of "substantially equivalent" in section 299.2 as a matter of first impression, we conclude that in light of the limited nature of the rights and obligations that the parties obtained in entering into a domestic partnership under New Jersey law, the trial court properly determined that the parties' 2004 New Jersey domestic partnership was not…