University of California, Law 281.2: California Marital Property Examination, Exams of Property Law

Download University of California, Law 281.2: California Marital Property Examination and more Exams Property Law in PDF only on Docsity! Παγε 1 οφ 5 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA COURSE EXAMINATION SCHOOL OF LAW Fall 2004 LAW 281.2: CALIFORNIA MARITAL PROPERTY INSTRUCTOR: HERMA HILL KAY TIME ALLOWED: 2½ HOURS CLOSED BOOK EXAMINATION NUMBERS: Please be sure to put your correct Fall exam number on each page of the exam (if typed) or on each blue book. COMPLETION: DO NOT CONTINUE WRITING AFTER TIME HAS BEEN CALLED. Please do NOT leave your bluebook or typed answers on the desk. Exams MUST be turned in to the person in charge. If you finish early, you must turn your exam in to the Registrar’s Office in Room 270 Simon Hall. There are no space limits. Question I. 40% CREDIT ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS AND DISCUSS YOUR ANSWERS FULLY: 1. Assume that H was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2004. The Nobel Prizes are awarded annually from the Nobel Foundation, a fund established by Alfred Nobel. Candidates are nominated for the prizes in Physics and Chemistry by the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden. They are open to all nationalities and are not competitive. Each prize carries a large cash award, currently approaching $1,000,000. (a) Assume that H made the discovery for which he was awarded the Prize during his marriage to W #1, which subsequently ended in divorce. He received the prize ten years later during his current marriage to W #2. At all relevant times, the parties lived in California, and all three of them continue to live in California. What are the respective rights of the parties, if any, in the prize money? Παγε 2 οφ 5 (b) Assume the same facts as set out above, except that H and W #1 were married and lived together in Illinois. They were divorced in Illinois. H then moved to California, where he met and married W #2. W #1 continues to live in Illinois. What are the respective rights of the parties, if any, in the prize money? 2. Assume that W entered Boalt Hall as a law student in Fall 2002. She and H, a Ph.D. candidate in English at Berkeley, married in California in May, 2003. Upon graduation from Boalt Hall in May 2005, W is given the Thelen Marrin Prize awarded to the graduating student with the highest grade point average for five semesters. The Prize carries a framed certificate and a cash award of $3,000.00. What are the respective rights of the parties, if any, in the prize money and the certificate? 3. Assume that Joy and Sylvia are registered domestic partners who live and work in Hollywood, California. They registered as domestic partners first in 2003, and registered again immediately after the new domestic partnership law became effective on January 1, 2005. In March 2005, Joy received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. The film for which she was nominated was released in summer 2004. The studio lobbied extensively for Joy to be nominated for the Oscar. The Award carries a gold statue, awarded by the Academy of Motion Pictures. What are the respective rights of the parties, if any, in the statue? 4. Assume that H is given a MacArthur Fellowship–otherwise popularly known as a “genius” award–one month before he and W separated in October 2004. Their divorce action is pending. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation gives between 20 and 25 of these Fellowships each year. In order for the Fellows to exercise their creativity and talents unencumbered, the Foundation provides them with five years of financial support, currently approaching $500,000.00. The Foundation seeks out its Fellows through a secretive process whereby it invites a small number of people in particular fields to submit a short letter nominating a Fellow to the Foundation. The eligibility criteria are stated as follows: “A MacArthur Fellowship should expand a life–it is not a lifetime achievement award. The Foundation uses three criteria in choosing a Fellow: 1. How has the nominee displayed exceptional creativity and inventiveness in his or her work, offering a decidedly new way of thinking, imagining, doing? 2. Does the nominee have the potential to make a still greater difference in the future? 3. How would a Fellowship enable the nominee to advance in his or her work?” The program began in 1981, and so far approximately 700 Fellows have been named. (One of them is Boalt Professor Pam Samuelson.) The Fellows do not know that they are under consideration for the Fellowship, and the news of their selection is said to come as a “bolt from