Line of Demarcation

On Thursday of last week, the Mississippi Supreme Court handed down Collins v. Collins.  A link to the opinion is below.

http://courts.ms.gov/Images/Opinions/CO84625.pdf

The case dealt with the issue of when does the accumulation of martial property stop in divorce?  The case essentially gives the chancellor three choices:  (1)  date of separation; (2) date of temporary order; or (3) date of divorce.  The case expressly overruled the earlier case of Pittman v. Pittman which left the impression that the Court was to always use the temporary order as the line of demarcation in the accumulation of marital property.  The Court expressly held that the chancellor must specifically and particularly state the date of demarcation in the order and why the date was chosen.  If they do not, the case is subject to automatic reversal. 

Sometime in the next few weeks, I am going to try to post of list of what I see as the current requirements in Mississippi regarding what findings the chancellor must make on the record.  From reading the current trend in opinions, the list is getting rather extensive and it is easy to overlook an issue in the middle of trial for both chancellors and attorney.