In Re the Marriage of Henderson

California Court of Appeal Oct 24, 1990 No. A047714Published

Before: Anderson

AI Brief

AI-generated · verify before citing

Holding. The court held that child support arrearages are nondischargeable in bankruptcy and that state courts have concurrent jurisdiction to enforce such debts. However, the court remanded the case for a recalculation of the judgment amount due to unexplained discrepancies in the record.

Issues

Whether child support arrearages are dischargeable in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding.
Whether a creditor must petition the bankruptcy court to revoke a discharge before seeking to enforce a nondischargeable debt in state court.
Whether the trial court erred in denying the motion to vacate the renewal of judgment due to calculation errors.

Disposition. remanded

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“child support obligations are nondischargeable.”

“Because child support is the type of section 523 debt which is “self-operating,” it is not necessary for the bankruptcy court to determine its nondischargeability simply because a debtor lists it.”

“we remand for a determination of the correct amount of the renewal of judgment.”

[533]

Opinion

ANDERSON, P. J.

The marriage of John Erwin Henderson III (appellant) and Irene Mary Henderson (respondent) was legally dissolved on March 21, 1972. Respondent received custody of Kenneth R. Henderson, born September 4, 1966, and Maureen M. Henderson, born October 23, 1968. Appellant was ordered by the court to pay $50 per month per child directly to the “Humboldt County Family Trust Fund” for the support of his children.

On May 8, 1981, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office delivered an earnings withholding order for support to appellant’s employer which resulted in partial satisfaction

of a $13,250 money judgment

the county’s family support division had obtained against appellant.

Appellant filed a chapter 7 bankruptcy petition on September 17, 1981, and listed Humboldt County as an unsecured creditor without priority. The debt amounted to $7,100.35. He was “released from all dischargeable debts” on February 10, 1982.

The Humboldt County family support division filed an application for a renewal of judgment on April 7, 1989. The amount of judgment was listed as $13,395; interest amounted to $8,383.03 for a total of $21,778.03. Appellant moved to vacate the renewal on the grounds that part of the debt had been discharged in bankruptcy and that the amount of the judgment was incorrect. The motion was denied and appellant appeals from that ruling.

United States Bankruptcy Court Shares Concurrent Jurisdiction With State Court Over the Debt at Issue

Appellant contends that $7,100.35 of his debt to the Humboldt County family support division was discharged in the chapter 7 proceeding. The County contends that the $7,100.35 in child support arrearages was not discharged because according to 11 United States Code

section 523(a)(5), child support obligations are nondischargeable. Even debts that have been “assigned pursuant to section 402(a)(26) of the Social Security Act, or any such debt which has been assigned to the Federal Government or to a State

In Re the Marriage of Henderson

AI Brief

ANDERSON, P. J.

More from California Court of Appeal

Related research

III.

AI Brief