Dees v. Dees

Marshall, Chief Justice.

We granted Mr. Dees’ discretionary appeal of the final decree in his divorce action, which held that his unpaid California workers’ compensation lump-sum settlement for an injury sustained during the marriage is a marital asset subject to equitable distribution, and which awarded Mrs. Dees, inter alia, 20% of the settlement. We vacate and remand.

The parties were married in 1978. Mr. Dees worked as an engineer in the oil industry until 1982, when he sustained a job-related back injury in California. During the period from 1982 to 1987, at which time the parties…