Thursday, March 5, 2009

Ah, Bifurcation!


WHAT IS A "BIFURCATION"?

When you bifurcate your marriage, you are no longer married...but you're not done with your divorce yet, either.

Under State law, you can "bifurcate" your marital status from all of your other issues (child custody, child visitation, child support, spousal support, distribution of property, attorney fees, and personal conduct) and return to the legal status of an unmarried (single) person. But because your other issues are unresolved, the court retains the ability to resolve them.

WHY BIFURCATE?

There are at least two reasons to bifurcate your marriage:
  1. Your divorce has been dragging on and on, and you just don't want to be married to that bitch anymore (which was my husband's case).
  2. It's well past the 6-month mark, and you want to get married again (to someone else, of course...not to your ex!).

CAUTION: The way the law is written (see the blue, bolded text below), even if you bifurcate your marriage, you could still be stuck paying for your ex's health insurance! So if you DO decide to bifurcate, tell your attorney that you want it stipulated that your ex will be responsible for obtaining and maintaining her own damn health insurance, whether through her employer or through COBRA (see my post "NOT Insuring Your Ex After Divorce").

My husband requested a bifurcation from the devil because even though they'd separated in August 2002, he and the devil were STILL married when they were ordered to a Status Conference in January 2005! Do the math...that's 2 years and 3 months after their separation date! His request was granted, and they were bifurcated in April 2005. Yes, I know...that's CRAZY! (Then again, so is the devil: Borderline Personality Disorder, Dependent Personality Disorder, Histrionic Personality Disorder, etc., etc., etc.)

Anyway, here's an excerpt from my husband's Order After Status Conference that you can use when talking to your attorney about bifurcation and healthcare insurance:

.....“The parties stipulate and agree that the marital status shall be bifurcated and a judgment for dissolution of the marriage submitted to the court. ... In entering into this stipulation, each party acknowledges that medical insurance is available to him or her through their respective places of employment and upon entry of the judgment of dissolution contemplated herein, each party shall be responsible for obtaining and/or maintaining his or her own medical insurance coverage.”

So here's the kicker: after 6-2/3 years, my husband and the devil STILL don’t have a signed Judgment of Dissolution!!! And do you know, it doesn’t really matter because they're bifurcated! All of their other issues were settled at trial 8 months after their bifurcation, so - technically - they're done...but the devil won’t sign the final Judgment! Why? Because it's FAIR!

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Family Code Section 2330-2348

2337. (a) In a proceeding for dissolution of marriage, the court, upon noticed motion, may sever and grant an early and separate trial on the issue of the dissolution of the status of the marriage apart from other issues.


.....(b) A preliminary declaration of disclosure with a completed schedule of assets and debts shall be served on the nonmoving party with the noticed motion unless it has been served previously, or unless the parties stipulate in writing to defer service of the preliminary declaration of disclosure until a later time.

.....(c) The court may impose upon a party any of the following conditions on granting a severance of the issue of the dissolution of the status of the marriage, and in case of that party's death, an order of any of the following conditions continues to be binding upon that party's estate:

..........(1) The party shall indemnify and hold the other party harmless from any taxes, reassessments, interest, and penalties payable by the other party if the dissolution of the marriage before the division of the parties' community estate results in a taxable event to either of the parties by reason of the ultimate division of their community estate, which taxes would not have been payable if the parties were still married at the time the division was made.

..........(2) Until judgment has been entered on all remaining issues and has become final, the party shall maintain all existing health and medical insurance coverage for the other party and the minor children as named dependents, so long as the party is legally able to do so. At the time the party is no longer legally eligible to maintain the other party as a named dependent under the existing health and medical policies, the party or the party's estate shall, at the party's sole expense, purchase and maintain health and medical insurance coverage that is comparable to the existing health and medical insurance coverage. If comparable insurance coverage is not obtained, the party or the party's estate is responsible for the health and medical expenses incurred by the other party that would have been covered by the insurance coverage, and shall indemnify and hold the other party harmless from any adverse consequences resulting from the lack of insurance.

..........(3) Until judgment has been entered on all remaining issues and has become final, the party shall indemnify and hold the other party harmless from any adverse consequences resulting to the other party if the bifurcation results in a termination of the other party's right to a probate homestead in the residence in which the other party resides at the time the severance is granted.

..........(4) Until judgment has been entered on all remaining issues and has become final, the party shall indemnify and hold the other party harmless from any adverse consequences resulting to the other party if the bifurcation results in the loss of the rights of the other party to a probate family allowance as the surviving spouse of the party.

..........(5) Until judgment has been entered on all remaining issues and has become final, the party shall indemnify and hold the other party harmless from any adverse consequences resulting to the other party if the bifurcation results in the loss of the other party's rights to pension benefits, elections, or survivors' benefits under the party's pension or retirement plan to the extent that the other party would have been entitled to those benefits or elections as the surviving spouse of the party.

..........(6) Prior to entry of judgment terminating status, both of the following shall occur:

...............(A) The party's retirement or pension plan shall be joined as a party to the proceeding for dissolution.

...............(B) If applicable, an order pursuant to Section 2610 shall be entered with reference to the defined benefit or similar plan pending the ultimate resolution of the distribution of benefits under the employee benefit plan.

..........(7) The party shall indemnify and hold the other party harmless from any adverse consequences if the bifurcation results in the loss of rights to social security benefits or elections to the extent the other party would have been entitled to those benefits or elections as the surviving spouse of the party.

..........(8) Any other condition the court determines is just and equitable.

.....(d) A judgment granting a dissolution of the status of the marriage shall expressly reserve jurisdiction for later determination of all other pending issues.

.....(e) If the party dies after the entry of judgment granting a dissolution of marriage, any obligation imposed by this section shall be enforceable against any asset, including the proceeds thereof, against which these obligations would have been enforceable prior to the person's death.

8 comments:

  1. So I see that your husband's ex is related to my fiance's ex...now that I read your blog I will see about preparing the paperwork for him to bifurcate as they are fighting over property issues and they have a MSC on Oct. 9th that will probably lead nowhere (the ex wants 1/2 his 401k but thinks her stocks aren't community property...she cashed hers out to pay for her atty w/o telling him). I want to have this bitch by the lips if you know what I mean...tries to manipulate him into not moving in with me by having her daughter crying calling her father saying I don't want you to move in there but no reasons why...now the bitch got her a cell phone to interrupt his parenting time (he has 8% of the time with his daughter....she's the type of mom where when the child gets old enough and the parent wants to walk them to school or drop them off the child wants them to drop them off down the street)...people like this serve no legitimate purpose in life.

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  2. I am *so* with you, sister! Let me know if you have any questions that I haven't already posted answers to here...I will *gladly* research them for you. (BTW, what his ex is doing is called "Parental Alienation" and it's illegal. Fun times!)

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  4. Wow. How did he manage it. My fiance requested status only bifurcation and somehow the judge keeps allowing her lawyer to go ex parte to have the dates moved and combined with the request for more visitation. At our wits end on how to get a darn status only judgement and deal with the property and visitation separately. So frustrating.

    Yes, his crazy has been diagnosed BPD and cluster B in general but refuses treatment because they were wrong. Uh huh.

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  5. Wow. It's like you have lived my nightmare. Except at this point, I have lost the love of my life because she could not bear the pain of waiting any longer, and is fast approaching an age where her having a baby will no longer be an option. I only wish I found your post 6 months ago.
    But here is to a scramble to salvage my life from a long process that proved that nice guys do indeed sometimes finish last. I've been trying to keep the peace for 2 years now for the benefit of the kids, but it has not had the effect which will normally incur in an interaction with a well adjusted human being (ie show someone respect, they show it back).

    please, wish me luck in the salvage effort!

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  6. Interesting. I'm the bitch. The one who put him through college, spent thirty years raising his five children, begged him to talk to me and tell me what I could do to make him love me again, saw him swallowed up by porn sites until I could no longer compete with airbrushed women. I'm the bitch who thought if I could just hold out until he retired, he'd have less stress and we could connect again, we could build our lives around our grandchildren, we could enjoy spending time together again rather than my waiting for him to come home later and later every night and spending every weekend wondering where he went. So, if I've held on tighter to the life that you stole from me, too bad. After 30 years I had an expectation a lifestyle that I had helped build. He sold my 6 bedroom, 4000 square foot home out from under me and three of our children two months before our daughter graduated from high school and we had to move to an 800 sq. foot 2 bedroom apartment, a 19 year old son, 18 yr. old daughter, a 9yr. old daughter and me. I sold nearly everything because he wanted nothing and would have thrown it away. I sold everything and make $600. Do I sound bitter? Wonder why? Last year he bought a $620,000 house for his new wife. I'll never own a house again. At 53, after spending 28 years as a stay-at-home mother of his five children, I can't find a job. I can do anything, but I can't prove that. So am I fighting for as much income as I can get? You bet. It belongs to me. I earned it. I put up with his rage and violence. I stood between him and the children. I maintained the appearance of the perfect family so that his reputation would hold up in his career and he could continue to advance. And now that he's on medication that's made him a decent person, I've been thrown to the curb. So sweetheart, if you don't like my fighting, that's just too bad.

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  7. If, after she filed for divorce 8 years ago, she still won't settle the divorce and the judge has yet to grant the bifurcation, does the 8 years count towards the division of military pension. I'm sure she's dragging it out to get more money. They weren't even married for 6 year!

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  8. If, after she filed for divorce 8 years ago, she still won't settle the divorce and the judge has yet to grant the bifurcation, does the 8 years count towards the division of military pension. I'm sure she's dragging it out to get more money. They weren't even married for 6 year!

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