In Wegman v. Wegman, the Appellate Division, Second Department, discussed at length one of “‘the most perplexing and difficult problems created by the equitable distribution law’—the issue of the date to be used for the valuation of marital property.”1 That decision encouraged courts to use flexibility in setting valuation dates, warning that: “in many situations a rigid rule regarding the valuation date would be undesirable.” In the years since Wegman, however, the judicial analysis has grown consistently less flexible, to the point where courts formulaically categorize an asset as either “active” or “passive” and assign valuation dates based on that categorization.
While there are advantages to having uniformity in this difficult area of the law, the rules should not be rigidly applied so as to obviate the objectives of Wegman. This balance is especially important today—as we find ourselves in the midst of a global economic crisis with asset values fluctuating wildly from the date of commencement to the date of trial—in order to obtain true equity in the division of marital assets.
