## Facts

- Husband and Wife executed a joint revocable trust naming themselves co-trustees; each settlor reserved an individual power to revoke the trust as to his or her property by a duly executed instrument.
- Husband executed a will naming Wife as personal representative and directing that his estate be administered as part of the trust.
- Husband filed for divorce; before any final decree or property division, Husband died.
- After death, Son sought a probate ruling that any marital property judgment entered in the continued divorce action would revoke Husband’s will and trust, causing property to pass by intestacy.
- Wife sought confirmation that the will and trust remained effective and that a property judgment entered after death would not trigger statutory revocation.
- Lower courts reached conflicting results on whether a post-death marital property judgment could cause revocation consequences under probate/trust law, prompting review.

## Issues

1. Whether a marital property judgment entered after a spouse’s death in a pending divorce proceeding under NMSA 1978, § 40-4-20(B) statutorily revokes the decedent’s will or revocable trust.
2. Whether the domestic relations court may continue proceedings under § 40-4-20(B) without first appointing a personal representative for the decedent’s estate who is not disqualified by a conflict of interest.

## Decision

- The court held that a § 40-4-20(B) marital property judgment does not statutorily revoke the decedent’s will or revocable trust.
- The court required appointment of a conflict-free personal representative to represent the decedent’s estate before domestic relations proceedings continue under § 40-4-20(B).
- The court directed that, after the domestic relations court completes the § 40-4-20(B) determinations, the decedent’s estate is distributed under the existing estate plan and governing probate statutes, as affected by the marital property judgment.
- The court reversed the intermediate appellate ruling and reinstated the district court’s approach, subject to the personal-representative requirement.

## Legal Principles

- A statute directing continuation of divorce-related financial determinations after a party’s death (§ 40-4-20(B)) does not create a divorce decree or its probate consequences.
- Probate-code revocation provisions keyed to “divorce” or “annulment” are not triggered when the marriage ends by death and no final divorce decree is entered.
- A § 40-4-20(B) judgment functions to define and allocate marital property interests between the surviving spouse and the decedent’s estate; it does not, by itself, revoke testamentary or trust dispositions.
- Before continued domestic relations litigation affecting the estate proceeds, the estate must be represented by a personal representative who is not disqualified by a conflict of interest.
- Proper administration sequence is: (1) appoint a qualified personal representative, (2) complete § 40-4-20(B) property determinations, then (3) administer and distribute the estate under the will/trust and probate law as applied to the estate as defined.

## Conclusion

When a spouse dies during a pending divorce, the domestic relations court must still determine marital property rights under § 40-4-20(B), but that post-death judgment does not revoke the decedent’s will or revocable trust; instead, a conflict-free personal representative must represent the estate during those proceedings, after which the estate is distributed pursuant to the existing estate plan and probate statutes.


Oldham v. Oldham, 247 P.3d 736 (N.M. 2011)