Innocent Inmate Wins $20M Then Loses Half to Wife He Married While in Prison??!!

An Illinois appeals Court says the inmate CAN'T exclude the settlement funds from his "marital property".......the inmate, Mr. Juan Rivera, was in jail since 1992 for allegedly murdering an 11 year old child, but was cleared by DNA evidence and released in 2012. (story continued below....)

Juan Rivera
Juan Rivera
Born	Juan A. Rivera, Jr. October 31, 1972 (age 43) Puerto Rico
Known for	Being wrongfully convicted three times for the murder of Holly Staker and receiving the largest wrongful conviction settlement in US history

Mr. Rivera was married in 2000 (while in prison) and filed for divorce in 2014.  Rivera argued that the settlement was not marital property as it stemmed from conduct that occurred in 1992, while the wife claimed it stemmed from the lawsuit filed after Rivera's overturned conviction in 2011.
The appeals court sided with Sanders-Rivera (the former wife)  in a Sept. 30 decision (PDF)
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IF THIS CASE WAS IN CALIFORNIA:

Personal injuries that occur during the marriage

Family Code 2603 states:

“(a) “Community estate personal injury damages” as used in this section means all money or other property received or to be received by a person in satisfaction of a judgment for damages for the person’s personal injuries or pursuant to an agreement for the settlement or compromise of a claim for the damages, if the cause of action for the damages arose during the marriage, but is not separate property as described in Section 781, unless the money or other property has been commingled with other assets of the community estate.

(b) Community estate personal injury damages shall be assigned to the party who suffered the injuries unless the court, after taking into account the economic condition and needs of each party, the time that has elapsed since the recovery of the damages or the accrual of the cause of action, and all other facts of the case, determines that the interests of justice require another disposition.
     In such a case, the community estate personal injury damages shall be assigned to the respective parties in such proportions as the court determines to be just, except that at least one-half of the damages shall be assigned to the party who suffered the injuries.”

If Mr. Rivera was represented in California, any attorney should definitely argue against the wife, since the entire settlement and law suit was because he was factually innocent, and had to suffer for decades PLUS his settlement is the largest in the entire country (as he was convicted THREE times!!!)  In other words, although she did marry him, she was not in jail with him.