Guerrero v. Guerrero
Annotate this CaseA husband and wife divorced, and agreed that the wife would receive the marital home and a portion of the husband’s military retirement benefits. Additionally, the wife would remove the husband from the marital home mortgage. Two years later the wife sought a qualified retirement order to effectuate the property distribution. Following a dispute over the wife’s entitlement to the retirement and the wife’s failure to remove the husband’s name from the marital home mortgage, the superior court refused to issue a qualified order because the husband’s “retirement pay consist[ed] entirely of VA disability compensation and retirement [pay] for physical disability” and under federal law the disability compensation was not divisible marital property. The superior court also ordered the wife to remove the husband’s name from the mortgage within 60 days. When the wife did not comply the court forced the home’s sale. The superior court then awarded the husband prevailing party attorney’s fees. The wife appealed, challenging the superior court’s refusal to divide the military retirement and the court’s forced home sale. The Supreme Court affirmed those decisions, but reversed the refusal to reopen the marital property division. The superior court’s prevailing party determination and attorney’s fees award were vacated, and the case remanded for further proceedings.
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