In re Marriage of Imperato
Court of Appeal of California
45 Cal. App. 3d 432 (1975)
Louis (defendant) and Diana (plaintiff) Imperato married in 1959; Louis ran a delivery business, Personalized Data Delivery Service (PDD), with his father, later incorporating it in 1969 with himself as sole shareholder, president, and manager. The couple separated in December 1971, when PDD was worth $1,665.85; Louis kept operating PDD alone during the separation, and by June 1973 it was worth $17,614.26. Trial on the marital dissolution occurred in August 1973, and the trial court valued the community property as of June 1973, the closest date available to trial. Louis appealed, arguing the property should have been valued as of the separation date instead, and alternatively asked the appellate court to treat PDD as his sole proprietorship (since it functioned as an alter ego for both spouses) so he could keep the post-separation increase in value as his own separate-property earnings.
Whether community property is valued as of the date of trial, or as close to that date as possible, rather than as of the date of separation.