Marriage of Wallis CA4/3

FACTS

Douglas and Simone were married in 2009. Their first two children were born in 2009 and 2010. Douglas filed a petition for dissolution in April 2013. Simone gave birth to their third child later that year in December. Douglas and Simone disagree about their date of separation. According to Douglas, the couple separated in October 2011. According to Simone, they did not separate until April 2013, thus increasing her community interest in Douglas’s 401(k) accounts. Simone requested a separate trial on the date of separation. Meanwhile, Douglas filed a request to bifurcate the issue of the parties’ marital status and asked the 3 family court to enter a “status only” judgment of dissolution. Both matters were continued to September 24, 2019.

3 In dissolution proceedings, the family court may sever and grant an early and separate trial on the issue of dissolution of marriage status; it may then enter a judgment granting a dissolution of the status of the marriage and expressly reserving jurisdiction for later determination of all other pending issues, such as division of the community estate. (Fam. Code, § 2337, subd. (a) & (f).) As one treatise explains, “A bifurcated…