Maxwell v. Maxwell

NOURSE, P. J.

The plaintiff sued to recover from defendant the proceeds of certain insurance policies paid to defendant upon the death of Thomas Maxwell. Defendant had a judgment from which the appeal is taken.

The plaintiff and deceased were married in Seattle, Washington, in August, 1919. In April, 1920, and March, 1926, respectively, two policies of insurance were issued upon the life of deceased in both of which plaintiff was named beneficiary. In October, 1928, plaintiff and deceased were separated, the latter moving to San Francisco where he resided

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until his death. In January, 1931, deceased filed in San Francisco a suit for divorce against this plaintiff in which he alleged that there was no community property of the parties to the marriage. The plaintiff herein, as defendant in the divorce proceedings, filed an admission of service of process, a consent to the jurisdiction, and a waiver of further service of process or notice. In February, 1931, an interlocutory decree of divorce was entered in favor of deceased upon the default of the defendant therein and the court found that “all the allegations of the complaint are true, and that they are sustained by testimony free from all legal exceptions. ...” A final decree of divorce was entered in June, 1933, and in September of that year the deceased and the respondent were married.. In 1936 the deceased changed the beneficiary named in both policies to his second wife, the defendant herein, and, upon his death in 1940 the proceeds of such policies were paid to defendant.

The burden of appellant’s appeal rests upon the soundness of previous decisions of our Supreme and appellate courts holding that a prior judgment determining the rights of parties to specific property is a bar to subsequent litigation putting in issue the same claims to the same property. The leading ease relied on b)r respondent is

Brown

v.

Brown,

170 Cal. 8 [147 P. 1171.] That case involved the identical question of the effect of a divorce decree settling the property rights in a policy of life insurance. It followed the case between the same parties relating to interests in real property and reported at page 1 of the same volume. In that case the complaint in the divorce action alleged that there was no community property. The defendant defaulted and the court found that all the allegations of the complaint were true. The proceeds of the policy were paid to the estate and, in the cited case, the trial court found that the premiums due upon the policy were all paid from the community funds. But in reversing the judgment the Supreme Court held that the status of the propérty was conclusively determined in the divorce proceeding where it was adjudged that “there was no community property.” The opinion reads (p. 9) : “The only difference between this case and the other case above mentioned, is that here the property is personal property while there it was real estate, and here it consists of an insurance policy which had become the property of Brown before the action for divorce was begun.