§4.03 Postponing Division

Some courts are split about whether you have a third option for dividing retirement benefits: reserving jurisdiction to divide the pension until the retiree is actually receiving it. The appellate court in Marriage of Bergman (1985) 168 CA3d 742, 756-757, held that a trial court does not have authority to postpone division in this way. Although FC §2550 authorizes property division at a later time, it only authorizes bifurcation of issues and does not allow the court to reserve jurisdiction indefinitely to divide a community asset.

In contrast, Marriage of Ramer (1986) 187 CA3d 263, 275-276, and Marriage of Carl (1977) 67 CA3d 542, 546, approved a trial court's reserving jurisdiction to divide a pension.