After months, sometimes years, of contentious and traumatic divorce litigation, the family court finally enters your Decree of Divorce. You finally have a little peace. No more posturing, no more recriminating emails, no more tense child exchanges. So, when your ex-spouse doesn’t pay make the equalization payment or gets behind on alimony, you let it slide. Better to forego a little cash in the short term than to start another expensive legal battle. Plus, it’s in a court order. The ex will have to pay at some point. Right?
Not necessarily. Like that can of beans deep in the back of your pantry, a divorce decree may have a shelf life. And according to the Nevada Court of Appeals, that shelf life might be six years.
In the case of Wisniewski vs. Wisniewski, the decree of divorce required Mr. Wisniewski to pay his ex-wife $106,000 for the wife’s community property interest in the marital home, $7,500 as a community property equalization, and an equalization from his 401(k) retirement account. When Mr. Wisniewski failed to comply with these obligations, Mrs. Wisniewski filed a motion in the family court to compel him to do so.
On appeal, the Court of Appeals held that the six year statute of limitations period applied to each of Mr. Wisniewski’s three obligations. Specifically, the Court of Appeals held that the limitation period relating to Mrs. Wisniewski’s interest in the marital home commenced on the date in which she had last given her ex-husband credit for the amount owed. The limitations period to compel payment for Mrs. Wisniewski’s interest in her ex-husband’s 401(k) commenced on the date he last tendered a check toward the satisfaction of that obligation. Finally, with respect to the property equalization payment, the court concluded that the limitations period began to run on the due date for the payment under the parties’ decree.
As a side note, the Court of Appeals held that, per Nevada statute, there is no limitation on the time in which a party may commence an action to collect arrears for child support.
Mrs. Wisniewski is lucky to have filed her motion to compel Mr. Wisniewski’s compliance with the decree when she did. Had she waited a mere two months more, the statute of limitations on the first of her claims would have already expired.
The Nevada Revised Statutes provide that judgments must be renewed every six years. Otherwise, they expire. On appeal, Mr. Wisniewski argued that Nevada’s judgment renewal statute also applies to divorce decrees. Because the Court of Appeals found that Mrs. Wisniewski had commenced her action to enforce the decree before the expiration of the six year limitations period, the court did not have to address Mr. Wisniewski’s argument that the decree itself had expired as matter of law before Mrs. Wisniewski had sought to enforce it. The court, therefore, left this important question entirely unanswered.
Although Wisniewski vs. Wisniewski is an unpublished decision, its holding poses interesting and significant issues for divorced couples in Nevada. First, the decision warns that failure to timely enforce obligations in a divorce decree within the 6 year limitation period will result in a waiver of those rights. Secondly, the decision leaves open the question as to whether divorce decrees might expire as a matter of Nevada law if not renewed within six years.
If you are waiting for your ex to fulfill his or her obligations to you after your divorce, be on notice that decrees in Nevada do have a shelf life. To this end, you might want to consult with your family lawyer to see whether you should take action to enforce or, at least, renew your Decree. But, if you wait too long, your post-marital rights may very well disappear forever.