Gibbons v. Gibbons

Mary Gibbons (plaintiff) and Felton Gibbons (defendant) were married in 1952. During their marriage, many of the couple’s expenses were paid for by gifts and inheritance assets that Felton received from his family. Mary and Felton divorced in 1978. The court overseeing the divorce proceedings ordered that the couple’s joint assets, as well as the gifts and inheritance assets that Mary and Felton had each received during their marriage, be divided equally. The value of the gifts and assets received by Felton was substantially greater than the value of those received by Mary. Felton appealed the court’s equitable-distribution ruling. The appeals court upheld the decision of the trial court as a proper exercise of its discretion regarding the equitable distribution of marital assets. In 1980, after the appeals court decision, New Jersey passed a law specifically excluding gifts and inheritance assets acquired during the marriage from the equitable distribution of marital property. A senate committee explained that the reason for the new law was that a division of such gifts and bequests in case of divorce is generally contrary to the expectations of the recipient and the giver of the gift or bequest, usually a relative of the recipient. The legislation did not specify whether the new rule should be applied to cases still pending or only prospectively to new cases. Felton appealed to the New Jersey Supreme Court.