Marriage of Torres CA4/1

BACKGROUND

Adalberto and Gemma divorced in 2010. The judgment of dissolution required equal division of the parties’ retirement plans by a qualified domestic relations order. When Adalberto submitted such an order to Gemma’s employer, the employer informed him it had distributed all the funds to Gemma and she no longer had a retirement account. Adalberto filed a request for order (RFO) and supporting declaration asking the family court to enforce the agreed distribution of retirement funds by awarding him half the amount Gemma had listed on a schedule of assets and debts. Gemma filed a responsive declaration in which she opposed Adalberto’s request and stated she had withdrawn the funds from her retirement account when she was laid off and had put them in an individual retirement account (IRA). At a hearing on Adalberto’s RFO, the family court continued the hearing to allow Gemma to retain counsel and ordered her not to transfer any of the funds from her IRA until further order of the court. In the meantime, Adalberto obtained records from Gemma’s employer that showed she had withdrawn substantially more from the retirement account than she had listed on her schedule of assets…