## Facts

- Elmer Sessions and Rosalie Sessions married in Texas in 1941 and had a daughter, Bonnie Seizer.
- By the mid-1950s, Rosalie developed mental illness; Elmer helped relocate Rosalie and Bonnie to Texas and then lived apart from them.
- Elmer and Rosalie had no direct communication for decades, and Rosalie did not seek support or attempt to reestablish the marital relationship.
- Elmer later lived with another partner for many years, and eventually resided in Washington with Barbara Sessions, who claimed to be married to him.
- Elmer won an Arizona lottery annuity, listed Barbara as beneficiary, and died domiciled in Washington in 1991.
- In Texas, Rosalie was declared incompetent in 1987; Bonnie became her guardian and asserted Rosalie and Elmer never divorced.
- Rosalie (through her guardian) sued in Washington seeking a community-property share of the lottery proceeds.

## Issues

1. Whether Washington or Texas law governs an incapacitated Texas spouse’s claim to a community-property share of lottery winnings acquired and held by a Washington domiciliary.
2. If Washington law governs, whether RCW 26.16.140 (the defunct-marriage doctrine) can eliminate the estranged spouse’s community-property interest despite no formal divorce.

## Decision

- The Washington Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and held Washington law governs the claim.
- The court determined the dispute concerns characterization of property associated with Washington, not solely the continued existence of a Texas marriage for status purposes.
- The court indicated that, under Washington law, decades of separation and lack of a functioning marital relationship can render the marital community “defunct” under RCW 26.16.140, defeating a community-property claim to later-acquired earnings and accumulations.
- The case was remanded for further proceedings consistent with applying Washington law.

## Legal Principles

- In a multistate marital-property dispute, the governing law may be that of the state with the most significant connection to the property and the parties’ relevant expectations, particularly where the decedent was domiciled and the property interest is administered.
- Washington distinguishes marital status from marital property rights; recognition of a marriage’s continued existence does not require importing another state’s community-property rules to reach Washington-connected assets.
- Under RCW 26.16.140, spouses who live separate and apart for a prolonged period, with no functioning marital community, may be treated as having a “defunct” marital community such that subsequent earnings and accumulations are not community property.

## Conclusion

Washington law controlled the claim to lottery proceeds connected to a Washington domiciliary, and Washington’s defunct-marriage doctrine could bar an estranged spouse’s community-property interest after decades of separation; the case was remanded for proceedings applying Washington law.


Seizer v. Sessions, 940 P.2d 261 (Wash. 1997)