FAMILY LAW ARTICLES

Setting Aside Family Law Judgments In California

Hi, I’m Ben Vojtik, and I’m here to talk to you about setting aside family law judgments here in California. When you want to set aside a family law judgment, the first thing you need to know is that you are on a deadline.

California code of civil procedure section 473 provides you with six months to seek aside a judgment based on surprise, inadvertence, mistake, or excusable neglect. One of the key phrases in there is excusable. You can’t just intentionally delay or not respond or do something that you need to do that results in a negative judgment against you. This is most commonly applied to default judgments when one party wasn’t even participating in the preceding. They didn’t follow their response and the other party decided to take their default. Again, that’s the most common and you have a maximum of six months and it is up to the court as to whether they ultimately grant or deny this motion.

Now, there’s some case law that supports granting this motion if it is on default, especially in California because the courts prefer to adjudicate matters on the merits rather than just enforcing a judgment that was based on one of the party’s assertions.

Now, you can also seek to set aside a judgment based on Family Code section 2122. Now this deadline extends to a year, but it isn’t based on inadvertence, surprise, mistake, or excusable neglect. This is more based on intent. Say the opposing party committed fraud, perjury, coerced you into the judgment that was entered or something along those lines. In those cases you have one year to seek to set aside the judgment and it is a lot more difficult to set aside a judgment under 2122 because courts prefer that these actions don’t just continue on endlessly. They want judgments to be final. The court has an interest in the judgment being final so you would be much more likely to be successful with a motion within six months as opposed to outside under Family Code Section 2122.

So if you are served with a judgment that you wish to set aside, you should probably contact an attorney as soon as possible. Also, there’s other relief available if you’re quick enough, such as motions for reconsideration if it’s based on the court decision. I would recommend consulting with an attorney as soon as you possibly can so that you don’t blow any deadlines and keep in mind judgments are also susceptible to appeal and the appellate courts have their own deadlines.

My name is Ben Vojtik. I hope I’ve been helpful and have a good day. Bye.