California Family Code 2120 – The Legislature finds and declares the following:(a) The State …
The Legislature finds and declares the following:
(a) The State of California has a strong policy of ensuring the division of community and quasi-community property in the dissolution of a marriage as set forth in Division 7 (commencing with Section 2500), and of providing for fair and sufficient child and spousal support awards. These policy goals can only be implemented with full disclosure of community, quasi-community, and separate assets, liabilities, income, and expenses, as provided in Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 2100), and decisions freely and knowingly made.
Terms Used In California Family Code 2120
- Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
- Property: includes real and personal property and any interest therein. See California Family Code 113
- Spousal support: means support of the spouse of the obligor. See California Family Code 142
- State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, or a commonwealth, territory, or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See California Family Code 145
- Support: refers to a support obligation owing on behalf of a child, spouse, or family, or an amount owing pursuant to Section 17402. See California Family Code 150
- Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
(b) It occasionally happens that the division of property or the award of support, whether made as a result of agreement or trial, is inequitable when made due to the nondisclosure or other misconduct of one of the parties.
(c) The public policy of assuring finality of judgments must be balanced against the public interest in ensuring proper division of marital property, in ensuring sufficient support awards, and in deterring misconduct.
(d) The law governing the circumstances under which a judgment can be set aside, after the time for relief under Section 473 of the Code of Civil Procedure has passed, has been the subject of considerable confusion which has led to increased litigation and unpredictable and inconsistent decisions at the trial and appellate levels.
(Added by Stats. 1993, Ch. 219, Sec. 108. Effective January 1, 1994.)