Anderson v. Sanchez
Annotate this CaseThis appeal arose out of a divorce between Mark Anderson and Sophia Sanchez. At the conclusion of mediation, the parties executed a written Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that awarded certain property in California (“The Wilson property”) to Mark in exchange for the payment of a portion of his retirement funds to Sophia. Mark subsequently sought to set aside the MOU and moved for joinder of his sister, Cheryl Parr, arguing that the MOU was void because it improperly distributed property that did not belong to Mark and Sophia because Cheryl had an ownership interest in the Wilson property. The district court denied Mark’s requests, concluding that the MOU was a valid and binding agreement, that Cheryl lacked standing to intervene, and that the court lacked jurisdiction to allow her to intervene. The court then entered a decree of divorce dissolving Mark and Sophia’s marriage and incorporating the MOU. The Supreme Court vacated the divorce decree only as it affected the disposition of the Wilson property, holding that the district court improperly determined that it did not have jurisdiction to join Cheryl in the divorce proceeding and should have conducted an evidentiary hearing to decide the joinder issues before the court adjudicated the parties’ property pursuant to the settlement agreement. Remanded.
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