Jordan v. Jordan

FELDMAN, Justice.

This marriage dissolution action presents the novel question of whether a trial court may deviate from the mandate of an appellate court because of an intervening change in controlling law and, on remand, decide the case contrary to the instructions contained in that mandate. The court of appeals held that the trial court was without jurisdiction so to do and reversed. Jordan v. Jordan, 132 Ariz. 51, 643 P.2d 1021 (App.1981). We granted appellee wife’s petition for review.

The parties were married in 1959 and lived in Oklahoma before moving to Arizona. In 1972, they bought a…