In Re the Marriage of Curtis

Opinion

McCLOSKY, J.

Appellant Anthony Curtis appeals from the order requiring him “to pay petitioner [Leslie M. Curtis]. . . one-half of the residuals awarded petitioner pursuant to the interlocutory judgment of dissolution of marriage . . . without offset for the Doubleday & Company, Inc. liability and costs connected therewith.”

On January 22, 1982, the trial court rendered an interlocutory judgment dissolving the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Curtis. As part of that judgment, Mrs. Curtis was awarded as her separate property “one-half (Vi) of the community property residuals from the writings and/or performances of [Mr. Curtis] from the date of marriage, April 20, 1968 through the date of separation March 4, 1980.”

On May 7, 1987, Mrs. Curtis filed an order to show cause to enforce the interlocutory judgment. In support of that order to show cause Mrs. Curtis submitted the declaration of her attorney Donald B. Marks. Mr. Marks chronicled two prior orders to show cause Mrs. Curtis filed to enforce that portion of the interlocutory judgment awarding her one-half of the residuals Mr. Curtis receives for the work he performed during the marriage. Mr. Marks then explained: “Since the last payment of residuals to [Mrs. Curtis] in late 1984, [Mr. Curtis] has continuously refused to make any more payments for the time period 1985 to the present.”

In response to Mrs. Curtis’s order to show cause, Mr. Curtis submitted the declaration of his counsel Mr. Bernard Silverman. In pertinent part that declaration provided: “During the year 1985, Doubleday received a judgment against respondent for an advance paid to petitioner and respondent in 1977 in connection with a book contract. The book was never published.

[390]

The judgment was $50,000 plus interest and costs, which totaled approximately $75,000. The legal fees in connection with the litigation totaled in excess of $100,000.

“In a letter of July 23, 1987 ... [to Mrs. Curtis’s counsel] I stated that [Mrs. Curtis] had not paid one-half of the liabilities incurred with the Doubleday lawsuit. [Mr. Curtis’s] one-half share of those liabilities amounts to $87,500. A schedule was enclosed with the letter . . . which set forth the total amount of community residuals received from January 1, 1985 to June 1, 1987. These total $72,775. [Mr. Curtis’s] one-half share equals $36,388. Since [Mrs. Curtis’s] one-half share of the liabilities connected with the Doubleday lawsuit exceeds [her] share of the community residuals received from writings and/or performances,