Volumes
Foundations: How California Courts Built Tracing Doctrine From Scratch
California’s tracing doctrine did not emerge fully formed. It evolved through decades of trial courts grappling with commingled accounts and appellate courts developing workable rules from first principles. This volume examines the development of tracing doctrine in California family law across the first three foundational eras. Those eras include Early Foundations (1900–1959), The Modern Era Begins (1960–1969), and Consolidation and Presumptions (1970–1979). Together, they establish the structural framework that governs tracing analysis today.
Refinement: When Courts Perfected Analysis for Complex Assets
The 1980s brought unprecedented complexity to California family law. Stock options, retirement benefits, and business structures demanded more nuanced tracing analysis than founding-era courts ever imagined. This volume captures two decades of doctrinal evolution through 26 pivotal cases. Watch courts wrestle with Lucas's reimbursement principles, decode Marsden's approach to appreciation, and absorb the seismic shifts introduced by Dekker and Haines in the mid-1990s.
Integration: Applying Century-Old Principles to Modern Financial Reality
Contemporary California family law operates at the intersection of century-old doctrine and 21st-century financial reality. This volume examines 21 cases where appellate courts applied traditional tracing principles to challenge the founding judges never envisioned. From Cochran's benefits analysis through the landmark Brace decisions that reshaped exhaustion requirements, these chapters reveal how timeless principles adapt to modern assets. You'll navigate stock options in Valli, decode cryptocurrency implications, and study the California Supreme Court's definitive guidance in In re Marriage of Simonis.
