Making new law in the state, the Nevada Supreme Court has made it clear that divorce is not limited to the spouses involved. In the case entitled Anderson vs. Sanchez the Nevada Supreme Court was asked to determine the enforceability of a divorce settlement agreement in the face of the husband’s claim that the agreement distributed property belonging to a third-party. At issue was the Nye County District Court’s denial of the husband’s motion to set aside the settlement and join his sister to the underlying divorce proceeding, because she claimed an interest in residential property which the district court had distributed in the parties’ divorce settlement.
In determining that the district court should have conducted an evidentiary hearing to decide the propriety of the sister’s involvement in the divorce proceeding, the Nevada Supreme Court specifically disapproved of the district court’s declaration that the sister could not be made a party to the divorce proceeding. Specifically, the Nevada Supreme Court held that “a third person may be joined to a divorce action when that person claims an interest in the property that is purported to be a part of the marital estate.”
Of course, third parties have no legal interest in or right to interfere with a divorce action for the purpose of opposing the granting of a decree of divorce . However, if a third-party has a “material interest” the subject matter of the divorce, then that party must be joined into the law suit so that there is a “complete decree to bind them all.” The Nevada Supreme Court went on to add that the district court’s failure to join the sister in the case might, depending on the facts, be “fatal” to its judgment.
The Anderson opinion has a practical effect upon couples who are divorcing in Nevada because it makes clear that, where a third-party claims an interest in community or jointly held property, that third-party must be brought into the divorce proceeding. Otherwise, the family court’s disposition of the property may be void because it improperly distributes property that doesn’t actually belong to the parties.