## Facts

- Monica Mehren (wife) and Christopher Dargan (husband) married; husband had a long-term cocaine addiction.
- After a separation related to husband’s drug use, the parties reconciled.
- As a condition of reconciliation, they signed a notarized postmarital “Agreement re Transfer of Property.”
- The agreement required husband to abstain from intentional use of mind-altering substances other than medically approved drugs.
- If husband used illegal drugs again, the agreement required him to forfeit his right, title, and interest in specified community property to wife.
- Husband later relapsed and used illegal drugs.
- Wife filed for dissolution and sought to enforce the agreement by confirming the identified assets as her separate property.

## Issues

1. Whether a postmarital agreement imposing a substantial property forfeiture upon a spouse’s illegal drug use is unenforceable as contrary to California’s public policy favoring no-fault divorce.
2. Whether a spouse’s promise to refrain from criminal conduct can supply valid consideration for a postmarital property-transfer agreement.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal reversed the postjudgment order enforcing the agreement.
- The court held the agreement unenforceable as against public policy favoring no-fault divorce.
- The court directed the trial court to vacate its prior order and enter a new order declaring the agreement unenforceable.

## Legal Principles

- Marital agreements are unenforceable when they conflict with statutes or public policy governing marriage and dissolution.
- California’s no-fault dissolution scheme bars fault-based financial penalties that function to punish marital misconduct through property allocation.
- A postmarital provision that ties property forfeiture to a spouse’s misconduct, in a manner linked to marital breakdown, may be void as contrary to the no-fault policy.
- A promise to refrain from illegal conduct may be insufficient consideration because it reflects an existing legal duty rather than a bargained-for legal detriment.

## Conclusion

The court refused to enforce a reconciliation-based postmarital agreement that required a spouse to forfeit community property upon illegal drug use, concluding it improperly reintroduced fault-based economic consequences into dissolution and therefore violated California’s no-fault divorce policy.


In re Marriage of Mehren & Dargan, 118 Cal. App. 4th 1167 (Cal. Ct. App. 2004)