Article 3. Enforcement Of Support Of Spouse Who Has Conservator of California Probate Code >> Division 4. >> Part 6. >> Chapter 2. >> Article 3.

If one spouse has a conservator and the other spouse has the management or control of community property, the conservator or conservatee, a relative or friend of the conservatee, or any interested person may file a petition under this article in the court in which the conservatorship proceeding is pending for an order requiring the spouse who has the management or control of community property to apply the income or principal, or both, of the community property to the support and maintenance of the conservatee as ordered by the court.

(a) Notice of the hearing on the petition shall be given for the period and in the manner provided in Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 1460) of Part 1.
  (b) If the spouse who has the management or control of community property is not the conservator, the petitioner shall also cause notice of the hearing and a copy of the petition to be served on that spouse in accordance with Title 5 (commencing with Section 410.10) of Part 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

Upon the filing of a petition under this article, the court may cite the spouse who has the management or control of community property to appear before the court, and the court and the petitioner may examine the spouse under oath concerning the community property and other matters relevant to the petition filed under this article. If the person so cited refuses to appear and submit to an examination, the court may proceed against the person as provided in Article 2 (commencing with Section 8870) of Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 7. Upon such examination, the court may make an order requiring the person cited to disclose his or her knowledge of the community property and other matters relevant to the petition filed under this article, and if the order is not complied with the court may proceed against the person as provided in Article 2 (commencing with Section 8870) of Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 7.

In any proceeding under this article, the court may, after notice and hearing, order the spouse who has the management or control of community property to pay from the community property such amount as the court determines is necessary to the support and maintenance of the conservatee spouse pending the determination of the petition under this article. An order made pursuant to this section does not prejudice the rights of the spouses or other interested parties with respect to any subsequent order which may be made under this article. Any order made under this section may be modified or revoked at any time except as to any amount that may have accrued prior to the date of filing of the petition to modify or revoke the order.

When a petition is filed under this article, the spouse having the management or control of community property shall serve and file a current income and expense declaration and a current property declaration on the forms prescribed by the Judicial Council for use in family law proceedings.

During the pendency of any proceeding under this article, the court, upon the application of the petitioner, may issue ex parte orders:
  (a) Restraining the spouse having the management or control of community property from transferring, encumbering, hypothecating, concealing, or in any way disposing of any property, real or personal, whether community, quasi-community, or separate, except in the usual course of business or for the necessities of life.
  (b) Requiring the spouse having the management or control of the community property to notify the petitioner of any proposed extraordinary expenditures and to account to the court for all such extraordinary expenditures.

Any person interested in the proceeding under this article may request time for filing a response to the petition, for discovery proceedings, or for other preparation for the hearing, and the court shall grant a continuance for a reasonable time for any of such purposes.

In a proceeding under this article, the court may hear and determine whether property is community property or the separate property of either spouse if that issue is raised in the proceeding.

(a) The court may order the spouse who has the management or control of community property to apply the income or principal, or both, of the community property to the support and maintenance of the conservatee, including care, treatment, and support of a conservatee who is a patient in a state hospital under the jurisdiction of the State Department of State Hospitals or the State Department of Developmental Services, as ordered by the court.
  (b) In determining the amount ordered for support and maintenance, the court shall consider the following circumstances of the spouses:
  (1) The earning capacity and needs of each spouse.
  (2) The obligations and assets, including the separate property, of each spouse.
  (3) The duration of the marriage.
  (4) The age and health of the spouses.
  (5) The standard of living of the spouses.
  (6) Any other relevant factors which it considers just and equitable.
  (c) At the request of any interested person, the court shall make appropriate findings with respect to the circumstances.
  (d) The court may order the spouse who has the management or control of community property to make a specified monthly or other periodic payment to the conservator of the person of the conservatee or to any other person designated in the order. The court may order the spouse required to make the periodic payments to give reasonable security therefor.
  (e) (1) The court may order the spouse required to make the periodic payments to assign, to the person designated in the order to receive the payments, that portion of the earnings of the spouse due or to be due in the future as will be sufficient to pay the amount ordered by the court for the support and maintenance of the conservatee. The order operates as an assignment and is binding upon any existing or future employer upon whom a copy of the order is served. The order shall be in the form of an earnings assignment order for support prescribed by the Judicial Council for use in family law proceedings. The employer may deduct the sum of one dollar and fifty cents ($1.50) for each payment made pursuant to the order. Any such assignment made pursuant to court order shall have priority as against any execution or other assignment unless otherwise ordered by the court or unless the other assignment is made pursuant to Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 5200) of Part 5 of Division 9 of the Family Code. No employer shall use any assignment authorized by this subdivision as grounds for the dismissal of that employee.
  (2) As used in this subdivision, "employer" includes the United States government and any public entity as defined in Section 811.2 of the Government Code. This subdivision applies to the money and benefits described in Sections 704.110 and 704.113 of the Code of Civil Procedure to the extent that those moneys and benefits are subject to a wage assignment for support under Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 703.010) of Division 2 of Title 9 of Part 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
  (f) The court retains jurisdiction to modify or to vacate an order made under this section where justice requires, except as to any amount that may have accrued prior to the date of the filing of the petition to modify or revoke the order. At the request of any interested person, the order of modification or revocation shall include findings of fact and may be made retroactive to the date of the filing of the petition to revoke or modify, or to any date subsequent thereto. At least 15 days before the hearing on the petition to modify or vacate the order, the petitioner shall mail a notice of the time and place of the hearing on the petition, accompanied by a copy of the petition, to the spouse who has the management or control of the community property. Notice shall be given for the period and in the manner provided in Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 1460) of Part 1 to any other persons entitled to notice of the hearing under that chapter.
  (g) In a proceeding for dissolution of the marriage or for legal separation, the court has jurisdiction to modify or vacate an order made under this section to the same extent as it may modify or vacate an order made in the proceeding for dissolution of the marriage or for legal separation.

If the spouse who has the management or control of the community property refuses to comply with any order made under this article or an order made in a separate action to provide support for the conservatee spouse, upon request of the petitioner or other interested person, the court may, in its discretion, divide the community property and the quasi-community property of the spouses, as it exists at the time of division, equally in the same manner as where a marriage is dissolved. If the property is so divided, the property awarded to each spouse is the separate property of that spouse and the court shall order that the property awarded to the conservatee spouse be transferred or paid over to the conservator of the estate of that spouse to be included in the conservatorship estate and be managed, controlled, and disposed of as a part of the conservatorship estate. The fact that property has been divided pursuant to this section has no effect on the nature of property thereafter acquired by the spouses, and the determination whether the thereafter-acquired property is community or separate property shall be made without regard to the fact that property has been divided pursuant to this section.

Any order of the court made under this article may be enforced by the court by execution, the appointment of a receiver, contempt, or by such other order or orders as the court in its discretion may from time to time deem necessary.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Judicial Council may provide by rule for the practice and procedure in proceedings under this article.

Nothing in this article affects or limits the right of the conservator or any interested person to institute an action against any person to enforce the duty otherwise imposed by law to support the spouse having a conservator. This article is permissive and in addition to any other procedure otherwise available to enforce the obligation of support.