HOLDEN VS JENSEN

FL-25-002321 - HOLDEN VS JENSEN Respondent's Request for Order re Set Aside, etc.-- HEARING REQUIRED.

The child custody request has been mediated and is not at issue here. Proof of personal service of Petitioner is on file and Petitioner has not filed a Responsive Declaration or other opposition.

Respondent's request to set aside the default that was entered is based on the allegation that "all paperwork" that has been served on him was sent to a mailing address that is not in existence and at which he has never resided. The Proof of Service of the Summons on the Amended Petition, etc., alleges personal service of Respondent and is presumptively valid. Respondent's declaration does not deny or allege defective service of anything except what was served via mail. Moreover, a motion to set aside the entry of default based on surprise, mistake, inadvertence and/or excusable neglect must be filed and served within six (6) months of the entry of default, which in this case occurred on October 21, 2025. (Code Civ.

Proc., Sec. 473(b); Arambula v. Union Carbide Corp. (2005) 128 Cal.App.4th 333, 341-342.) No other authority has been cited and no other factual basis to set aside the default has been alleged.

That said, Respondent's Request to Enter Default on the Amended Petition did not attach the required financial disclosures and Respondent checked the boxes on the Judicial Council form excusing such attachments because, allegedly, there were "no changes since the previous filing," and because all the "issues subject to disposition" were the subject of a "written agreement." (Request to Enter Default, FL-165, 10/21/25, p. 1, No. 3(a),(b).) However, the Court's docket discloses no such filings prior to the entry of Respondent's default and, based on Respondent's declaration and unopposed motion to set aside, it is clear that there is no executed Marital Settlement Agreement (MSA) or other formal written compromise.

Accordingly, entry of Respondent's default without the required attachments renders the default--and any judgment that might be entered on this basis--void ab initio and subject to set aside at any time and on the Court's own motion. (Code Civ. Proc., Sec.Sec. 473(d), 580; see Local Rules, rule 7.03 ["Unless properly excused, a complete and current Income and Expense Declaration or a Financial Statement (Simplified), and a complete and current Property Declaration shall be attached to the Request to Enter Default. The failure to include the disclosure documents, if required, shall be deemed a sufficient basis to set aside the entry of default upon timely request "], emphasis added.)

The Court is therefore inclined to grant set aside but will afford Respondent the opportunity to appear and be heard before doing so.

The following are the tentative ruling cases calendared before Judge J. Richard Distaso in Department #13: THERE ARE NO TENTATIVES.

The following are the tentative ruling cases calendared before Judge Sarah Birmingham in Department #14: THERE ARE NO TENTATIVES.

The following are the tentative ruling cases calendared before Judge Maria Elena Ramos-Ratliff in Department #25: THERE ARE NO TENTATIVES.