Anyone who works with equitable distribution knows that the date of separation is a critical fact that must be established before anything else can be done in the case because it is the date used to define and value the marital estate. The date of separation should be established before the parties spend time and money engaging in the discovery process and definitely must be established before the court begins the process of classifying and valuing marital and divisible property.
So what is the relationship between a date of separation found as a fact in an absolute divorce judgment and the date of separation in the equitable distribution case? If the parties have obtained an absolute divorce and that judgment contains a date of separation, is that date binding on the equitable distribution case? Can one of the parties argue in the ED case that a different date was the actual date of separation?