Marriage of Schultz
Court of Appeal of California
164 Cal. Rptr. 653 (1980)
Alvin Schultz (plaintiff) and Carol Schultz (defendant) were married and owed a $4,250 community debt to a creditor. Because Alvin no longer lived at the marital home, although it remained his legal address, the notice of the creditor's hearing sent there never reached him, and a $5,000 default judgment was entered against him. In dividing the property, the trial court invoked Family Code section 2602 to assign $3,500 of the debt to Alvin and only $1,500 to Carol, treating Alvin's failure to respond as a basis for the unequal split. Alvin appealed.
Whether a spouse's negligence in managing community property justifies deviating from the equal division of community-property assets at divorce.