BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2674|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2674
Author: Block (D), et al
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/15/10
AYES: Corbett, Harman, Hancock, Leno, Walters
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 71-0, 4/12/10 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Family law: exemplary damages
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill provides that, when a spouse is
convicted of soliciting the murder of another spouse, the
injured spouse shall be entitled to an award of 100 percent
of the community property interest in the retirement and
pension benefits, and a prohibition of any awards for
spousal support or medical, life, or other insurance
benefits or payments from the injured spouse to the
convicted spouse.
ANALYSIS : Existing law provides that, in addition to any
other remedy authorized by law, when a spouse is convicted
of attempting to murder the other spouse, as specified, the
injured spouse shall be entitled to 100 percent of the
community property interest in his or her retirement and
pension benefits, and a prohibition of specified support or
CONTINUED
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insurance benefits from the injured spouse to the other
spouse. Existing law defines injured spouse as the spouse
who has been the subject of the attempted murder for which
the other spouse was convicted, whether or not actual
physical injury occurred. Existing law also authorizes a
court to award attorney's fees and costs in the form of a
sanction in these cases. (Sections 782.5 and 4324 of the
Family Code)
This bill expands these provisions to also apply when a
spouse is convicted of soliciting the murder of the other
spouse.
Background
Under current law, when a spouse is convicted of attempting
to murder the other spouse, the injured spouse is entitled
to 100 percent of the community property interest in the
retirement and pension benefits, and a prohibition of any
awards for spousal support or medical, life, or other
insurance benefits or payments from the injured spouse to
the convicted spouse. However, current law is silent as to
whether these remedies apply when a spouse is convicted of
soliciting the murder of the other spouse. This bill seeks
to address this apparent gap in current law, which was
brought to the author's attention by a constituent.
In background materials provided to the committee, the
constituent (a police detective) notes that his former wife
repeatedly solicited his murder following her unfortunate
descent into drug addiction. She was subsequently
convicted of solicitation to commit murder, and sent to
prison. In the divorce proceedings that followed, the
family court found that, because the detective's spouse did
not personally attempt his murder, but instead solicited
his murder, the spouse was entitled to one-half the
community property of the marriage, including the
detective's retirement benefits and insurance benefits from
life insurance policies.
The court found this despite the Legislature's enactment of
pertinent family law legislation over 15 years ago, in the
form of AB 16 (Rainey), Chapter 364, Statutes of 1995,
which prohibited a spouse convicted of attempting to murder
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the other spouse him/herself from benefiting in any way
from his/her prior act. This bill will provide that the
provisions in current law intending to prohibit a spouse
convicted of attempted murder of the other spouse from
benefiting from that act also apply in instances where a
spouse solicits the murder of another spouse.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author states:
"When a husband or wife is convicted of solicitation for
murder of their spouse, current law does not prohibit the
convicted spouse of attempting to reap financial
benefits, such as community property in retirement and
pension benefits, from their injured spouse.
"AB 2674 protects the victim by eliminating access the
convicted partner may have to victim's benefits and
property rights and ceases all financial support or
insurance coverage the convicted spouse was receiving."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Tom
Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes,
Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore,
Hagman, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman,
Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal,
Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello,
Nielsen, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas,
Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Solorio, Audra Strickland,
Swanson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, John A.
Perez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Anderson, Bass, Evans, Hall, Harkey,
Norby, Smyth, Torlakson, Vacancy
RJG:mw 6/17/10 Senate Floor Analyses
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SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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