## Facts

- Husband and wife married in 1989 and later separated; dissolution proceedings followed.
- After separation, the spouses discussed dividing “major community assets” and allegedly reached a post-separation oral agreement.
- The alleged agreement was not reduced to writing and was not stated as an oral stipulation in open court.
- The spouses transferred certain community assets into each other’s sole names in a manner the trial court found to be full performance of the oral arrangement.
- The transfers produced an unequal distribution of community property between the spouses.
- The appeal addressed only whether the oral property-division agreement could be enforced to support an unequal division.

## Issues

1. Whether a trial court may enforce a post-separation oral agreement that results in an unequal division of community property when the agreement is neither written nor an oral stipulation made in open court, under California Family Code § 2550.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal reversed the judgment.
- Family Code § 2550 required equal division of the community estate absent a written agreement or an oral stipulation in open court.
- Because the parties’ agreement met neither statutory exception, it was void and unenforceable as a basis for unequal division.
- Full performance of the oral arrangement did not cure the failure to satisfy § 2550’s formal requirements.
- The matter was remanded for further proceedings consistent with equal division unless a valid statutory exception is established.

## Legal Principles

- In dissolution proceedings, California Family Code § 2550 mandates equal division of community property except upon (1) a written agreement of the parties or (2) an oral stipulation of the parties in open court.
- The statutory exceptions in § 2550 are exclusive methods for authorizing an unequal division of community property.
- General contract doctrines (including performance, part performance, and estoppel) do not substitute for § 2550’s required formalities when unequal division is sought.
- A trial court commits legal error by ordering an unequal division based on an unenforceable oral post-separation agreement.

## Conclusion

The court held that an unwritten post-separation oral arrangement—without an in-court stipulation—cannot support an unequal community property division; the judgment enforcing such an arrangement was reversed and remanded for division consistent with Family Code § 2550.


In re Marriage of Dellaria, 90 Cal. Rptr. 3d 802 (Cal. Ct. App. 2009)