Marriage of Devlin
Court of Appeal of California
189 Cal. Rptr. 1 (1982)
During his marriage to Mrs. Devlin (plaintiff), Mr. Devlin (defendant) was injured in an accident, receiving a $175,000 personal-injury award; by the time of separation and divorce, all award proceeds had been spent, with the entire community estate — including real property and a mobile home specifically equipped for Mr. Devlin's needs as a paraplegic — traceable to those award proceeds. The trial court found the community property was fully traceable to the personal-injury award and thus belonged entirely to Mr. Devlin as his individual property; Mrs. Devlin appealed.
Whether assets purchased with proceeds from a personal-injury award received by one spouse during the course of a marriage become community-property assets.