UC, Relocation and Renting: La Jolla Family Law Questions

A UCRP benefit is divided through a domestic relations order, or DRO, which UC's UCnet fact sheet describes as "a legal document that UC has determined to be acceptable ('qualified') under UCRP's rules." The same source says a joinder must be filed naming the UC Retirement System (UCRS) as the claimant. A joinder is the step that brings the plan into the divorce case. UC also notes that UCRP is generally not subject to the federal ERISA rules that govern many private-employer plans, which is part of why UC uses its own DRO process.

UC's fact sheet sets out several further points that often surprise La Jolla households:

• Timing: the DRO packet is sent within 60 days after Special Claims receives the request, and the calculation may take up to 45 business days.
• Savings plans need their own order: the UC Retirement Savings Program (the Tax-Deferred 403(b), Defined Contribution and 457(b) Deferred Compensation Plans) requires a separate DRO.
• What cannot be divided: survivor benefits are not payable to an alternate payee, UCRP disability income may not be divided, and personnel-related benefits, including accrued sick leave and vacation, cannot be divided.
• Retired members: if the member is already retired, UCRP will withhold 50 percent of the member's monthly benefit while the matter is pending.

Custody mediation is required, not optional, once custody or visitation is contested (Family Code section 3170). In San Diego County it takes the form of child custody recommending counseling with the court's Family Court Services. Under Family Code section 3183(a), the mediator, called a child custody recommending counselor, may, except as provided in section 3188, make a recommendation to the court, consistent with local court rules, if it is first given in writing to the parties and their attorneys, including counsel for any minor children, before the hearing.

Family Court Services, which calls this person the Family Court Counselor, says that if no agreement is reached, the counselor makes a recommendation to the court and the court hearing proceeds. The recommendation carries weight, but the judge decides. Under section 3170(b), domestic violence cases are handled by Family Court Services under a separate written protocol approved by the Judicial Council.

A shared lease is one of the things each spouse has to identify in the case, because the sworn financial disclosure must list every asset and every debt a spouse has or may have, whatever its character (Family Code section 2104(c)). Rent owed, deposits and the obligation to keep paying through the lease term all fit in that list. Who stays in the apartment while the case is pending can be addressed by court order, and many renters in La Jolla separate while still living under one roof until the lease or a court order settles it.

When safety is part of the picture, the San Diego Police Department's Northern Division serves La Jolla through its 120s service area. The city lists the Northern Division at 4275 Eastgate Mall, San Diego, CA 92037, 858-552-1700; in an emergency, the call is 911. The department's Contact page lists its Domestic Violence Unit at 619-533-3500 and its non-emergency line at 619-531-2000 or 858-484-3154.

Community property is, in plain terms, what the spouses built together during the marriage, and Family Code section 2550 directs the court to divide the community estate equally unless the spouses agree otherwise in writing or by oral stipulation in open court, or the Family Code provides otherwise. The court values the assets and debts as near as practicable to the time of trial (Family Code section 2552). On 30 days' notice and for good cause, the court may instead use a date after separation and before trial.

For a UC household, the community estate can include the part of a UCRP benefit and Retirement Savings Program balances earned during the marriage, which is why the DRO steps above usually follow the property division.