Case library
Nevada family-law decisions, briefed for practice.
1201 decisions, organized by topic. Practitioner summaries with key holdings, posture, disposition, and the statutes cited - up front, where you need them. Every summary links to the full opinion.
Case Library = case briefs of the decisions themselves. For long-form explainers of the governing law, Guides; for the exact quotable passages, verified verbatim, the Canon.
18 cases · Retirement Division - PERS, QDROs, and pension division - NRS 125.155, ch. 286, ch. 1A.
WALKER VS. WALKER
Jan 9, 2025141 Nev. Adv. Op. 2, 561 P.3d 1064 (2025) · 86548 · Nevada Supreme Court
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.The court addressed two issues of first impression concerning the interaction of Nevada's retirement statutes with community property interests created by divorce decrees: (1) whether NRS 1A.450(1)(a) permits a JRS…
KILGORE VS. KILGORE
Oct 3, 2019135 Nev. Adv. Op. 47, 449 P.3d 843 (2019) · 73977 · Nevada Supreme Court
Affirmed.Standard of review. The court reviews the district court's distribution of community property, including PERS benefits and vacation/sick pay, for abuse of discretion. Wolff v. Wolff, 112 Nev. 1355, 1359, 929 P.2d 916,…
HENSON VS. HENSON (RETIREMENT DIVISION)
Oct 2, 2014130 Nev. 814, 334 P.3d 933 (2014) · 62654 · Nevada Supreme Court
Affirmed.Cherry, J. (en banc). The Court held that, unless specifically set forth in the divorce decree, an allocation of a community-property interest in the employee spouse's PERS pension does not also entitle the nonemployee…
SHELTON VS. SHELTON (RETIREMENT DIVISION)
Oct 29, 2003119 Nev. 492, 78 P.3d 507 (2003) · 37483 · Nevada Supreme Court
Reversed and remanded. ("The district court's order is reversed and this matter is remanded to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.")The principal issue was whether relief is available to a former spouse when a veteran unilaterally waives military retirement pay to receive disability benefits, eliminating the former spouse's share. The court held…
WOLFF VS. WOLFF (RETIREMENT DIVISION)
Dec 20, 1996112 Nev. 1355, 929 P.2d 916 (1996) · Nevada Supreme Court
Reversed in part (the spousal-support classification, the reduced payment, and the life-insurance requirement) and remanded; affirmed in all other respects, including the survivorship-to-estate provision, the validity of the Gemma formula, and the treatment of each party's Social Security as separate property.Young, J. Reviewing for abuse of discretion, Shane v. Shane, 84 Nev. 20, 435 P.2d 753 (1968), the Court held the district court erred by classifying the nonemployee spouse's share of the community pension as 'limited…
SERTIC VS. SERTIC (RETIREMENT DIVISION)
Aug 24, 1995111 Nev. 1192, 901 P.2d 148 (1995) · Nevada Supreme Court
Reversed and remanded as to the valuation and distribution of the pension; affirmed the order equally allocating the child dependency exemption, with directions to require the custodial parent to execute the appropriate documentation.Per Curiam. The Court held a district court may distribute the community interest in a pension at the time of trial only if: (1) the present value of the community share can be determined with reasonable certainty; (2)…
CARRELL VS. CARRELL (RETIREMENT DIVISION)
Sep 1, 1992108 Nev. 670, 836 P.2d 1243 (1992) · Nevada Supreme Court
Reversed as to the characterization of the wife's pension award and the award of attorney's fees, and remanded with instructions to recharacterize the wife's portion of the pension funds as community property and to make findings supporting any fee award; affirmed in all other respects.Per Curiam. Retirement benefits earned during marriage are community property, Walsh v. Walsh, 103 Nev. 287, 738 P.2d 117 (1987). As community property, they carry rights that do not attach to spousal support - most…
CARLSON VS. CARLSON (RETIREMENT DIVISION)
Jul 2, 1992108 Nev. 358, 832 P.2d 380 (1992) · 22510 · Nevada Supreme Court
Reversed and remanded (order vacating the domestic relations referee's recommendations reversed; remanded for further proceedings).Motions under NRCP 60(b) lie within the district court's sound discretion and are reviewed for abuse of discretion; the rule is liberally construed to redress injustices resulting from excusable neglect or the wrongs of…
FONDI VS. FONDI (RETIREMENT DIVISION)
Dec 7, 1990106 Nev. 856, 802 P.2d 1264 (1990) · Nevada Supreme Court
Reversed and remanded for recalculation of the community interest in the husband's pension; affirmed in all other respects (including the denial of alimony and the refusal to retain jurisdiction over future alimony).Per Curiam. Applying Gemma v. Gemma, 105 Nev. 458, 778 P.2d 429 (1989), the Court held the district court erred by valuing the community pension interest as if the employee spouse retired at the time of the proceedings.…
POWERS VS. POWERS (RETIREMENT DIVISION)
Sep 6, 1989105 Nev. 514, 779 P.2d 91 (1989) · 18804 · Nevada Supreme Court
Affirmed. (Young, C.J.; Steffen and Springer, JJ., concurring; Rose, J., recused.)The court affirmed the district court's characterization of the husband's disability retirement benefits as containing a community-property (retirement) component subject to division on divorce. The husband's disability…
GEMMA VS. GEMMA (RETIREMENT DIVISION)
Aug 23, 1989105 Nev. 458, 778 P.2d 429 (1989) · Nevada Supreme Court
Affirmed in all respects, but remanded to give the parties an opportunity to request that the district court retain jurisdiction over the payment of pension benefits and, if requested, to decide whether to exercise that discretion.Rose, J. Retirement benefits earned during marriage are community property, Walsh v. Walsh, 103 Nev. 287, 738 P.2d 117 (1987), and this is so even where the pension has not vested. The Court identified two approaches to…
TAYLOR VS. TAYLOR (RETIREMENT DIVISION)
Jun 30, 1989105 Nev. 384, 775 P.2d 703 (1989) · 19316, 19437 · Nevada Supreme Court
Reversed, with instructions to the district court to enter judgment in favor of the appellant husbands. (Per curiam.)In consolidated appeals presenting identical issues of law, the court reversed district court judgments that had partitioned the husbands' military retirement benefits under NRS 125.161. Enacted in 1987, NRS 125.161…
WALSH VS. WALSH (RETIREMENT DIVISION)
Jun 25, 1987103 Nev. 287, 738 P.2d 117 (1987) · 17776 · Nevada Supreme Court
Reversed.The court construed the divorce decree rather than modifying it (modification being barred by the six-month limit of NRCP 60(b); see Kramer v. Kramer, 96 Nev. 759, 616 P.2d 395 (1980)). Applying the settled rule that…
TOMLINSON VS. TOMLINSON (RETIREMENT DIVISION)
Dec 30, 1986102 Nev. 652, 729 P.2d 1363 (1986) · 17000 · Nevada Supreme Court
Affirmed.The court held that 10 U.S.C. sec. 1408 (the USFSPA), enacted to reverse McCarty v. McCarty, 453 U.S. 210 (1981), was intended only to return courts to their pre-McCarty position and does not create new rights to alter…
BURTON VS. BURTON (RETIREMENT DIVISION)
Sep 27, 198399 Nev. 698, 669 P.2d 703 (1983) · 14836 · Nevada Supreme Court
Motion to remand granted; appeal remanded to the district court for consideration of the motion to modify in light of the intervening federal and state law. ("Accordingly, the motion to remand is granted.")This appeal presented a threshold jurisdictional question and a remand request arising from the post-McCarty statutory landscape. The decree, entered June 18, 1982, confirmed the respondent's military retirement…
DUKE VS. DUKE (RETIREMENT DIVISION)
Apr 28, 198298 Nev. 148, 643 P.2d 1205 (1982) · 13685 · Nevada Supreme Court
Affirmed. ("Affirmed.")The issue was whether McCarty v. McCarty, 453 U.S. 210 (1981), applies retroactively to disturb a final, unappealed divorce decree, and the court held that it does not. The July 18, 1980 decree awarded the respondent 35…
MCCARROLL VS. MCCARROLL (RETIREMENT DIVISION)
May 22, 198096 Nev. 455, 611 P.2d 205 (1980) · 10924 · Nevada (SCOTN/COA)
Affirmed.The Court (per curiam) affirmed summary judgment for the former husband in an action, filed almost three years after a final divorce decree, seeking to have his U.S. Forest Service retirement pension declared a…
FLETCHER VS. FLETCHER (DIVORCE PROPERTY & ALIMONY)
Nov 30, 197389 Nev. 540, 516 P.2d 103 (1973) · 7073 · Nevada Supreme Court
Affirmed.The court affirmed the denial of a motion to amend a divorce judgment, applying deferential review. A trial court's determination on conflicting evidence will not be disturbed if supported by substantial evidence and…
Every summary is independently verified against the source opinion; summaries are informational research aids, not legal advice, and no substitute for reading the decision. Topic groupings are derived automatically from each case’s category tag and cited statutes; a case may appear under two topics.