Equitable Distribution If the Divorce Decree Was Granted Without Specific Reservation of Property Rights

Did the Wife Lose her Right to Equitable Distribution Under the Divorce Code if the Divorce Decree was Granted Without Specific Reservation of Property Rights ? In Bastion v. Bastion, 324 Pa. Super. 569, 472 A.2d 226, 228 (Pa. Super. 1984) the Court considered whether the lower court erred in denying wife's application to proceed to equitable distribution under the Divorce Code, when a decree had been entered three months after the effective date of the code. The Court held in applying 23 P.S. 401(j), that "when the divorce decree was granted with no specific reservation of property rights, under this section appellant lost any right to equitable distribution under the Code". Section 3503 is in accord with the law existing prior to the enactment of the Divorce Code.