Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Goold v. Superior Court (Cal. Ct. App. - Nov. 22, 2006)

Laura files for divorce from Edward. The Standard Family Law Restraining Orders (which are on the back of the summons) prohibit Edward from encumbering marital property without the written consent of his spouse. Laura and Edward thereafter stipulate to give most of the marital property to Edward, but Laura gets the marital house. Which, as the parties stipulate, includes a first mortgage of $252,000 but no other encumbrances.

Immediately after this order, however, Edward (1) gets an $100,000 line of credit on the marital house from Wells Fargo, which he promptly cashes out; (2) signs a $150,000 trust deed on the marital property to Mike's Remodeling, for work that was done on Edward's separate business properties; and (3) sells the marital property for $600,000 to a third party.

The Superior Court holds Edward (Goold) in contempt, and sentences him to 360 hours -- and says it will consider a work furlough. Personally, I'd also have held the dude in contempt, and (1) sentenced him to a lot more time, and (2) had him serve it in jail.