## Facts

- Wife filed a dissolution petition requesting that property rights be determined and incorporated a concurrently filed property declaration listing identified community assets and debts without values or a proposed division.
- Husband did not respond; default was entered, and a default judgment issued that included a requirement that husband execute a $50,000 note to reimburse wife for claimed separate-property contributions.
- On husband’s first set-aside motion, the trial court refused to vacate the default but vacated the portion of the judgment requiring the $50,000 note as relief beyond the pleadings.
- The court later entered a status-only dissolution judgment and then orders dividing the community estate in kind and requiring husband to make a $9,916.50 equalizing payment.
- Husband filed a second motion to set aside the default and the later property orders as void, arguing the petition did not provide notice of monetary exposure because it pleaded no specific values or money demand; the trial court denied the motion.

## Issues

1. Whether a default property division order in a dissolution action violates Code of Civil Procedure § 580 and due process when the petition requests determination of property rights and identifies community assets and debts but does not plead specific dollar values or a specific money demand.
2. Whether the default and subsequent community property division orders were void as granting relief beyond the pleadings, requiring they be set aside.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal affirmed the order denying husband’s motion to set aside the default and the later property division orders.
- The petition and attached property declaration provided sufficient notice that the court would identify, value, and divide the community estate, including by use of an equalizing payment.
- The earlier $50,000 note provision had properly been vacated as beyond the pleadings; after that correction, the remaining relief granted fell within the type of relief requested.

## Legal Principles

- In dissolution defaults, § 580 and due process require notice of the type of relief sought, not necessarily the precise dollar amounts.
- A petition that requests determination of property rights and identifies community assets and liabilities (including through an incorporated property declaration) authorizes a default judgment dividing the community estate and ordering an equalizing payment to achieve an equal division.
- A judgment is void only if the court lacks jurisdiction over the parties or subject matter, or grants a fundamentally different type of relief than was demanded; errors within the class of pleaded relief do not render the judgment void.

## Conclusion

The court held that a dissolution petition seeking determination of property rights and listing community assets and debts gives adequate notice to support a default division of the community estate and an equalizing payment, even without pleaded valuations, and thus the default and later property orders were not void.


In re Marriage of Andresen, 28 Cal. App. 4th 873 (Ct. App. 1994)