Marriage of Lee and Lin
Annotate this CaseAfter 26 years of marriage, Husband moved out of the family residence in May 2012. He rented an apartment in another city and occasionally interacted with Wife with whom he maintained an amicable relationship. Husband filed a dissolution petition in August 2014. The parties litigated their date of separation. Family Code section 771 classifies property acquired after the date of separation as the acquiring spouse’s separate property. The court found and the court of appeal affirmed that legal separation occurred when Husband moved from the family home in May 2012. Family Code section 70 defines “date of separation” as the date that a complete and final break in the marital relationship has occurred, as evidenced by both the spouse expressing to the other spouse his or her intent to end the marriage and conduct of the spouse consistent with his or her intent to end the marriage. Husband’s intent to end the marriage was clearly expressed by leasing an apartment and was reinforced by relinquishing the key to the family home and refusing to give Wife a key to the apartment. Their limited interactions after Husband’s move did not show an intent to reconcile and did not overcome any clear act of ending the marriage by moving out.
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