In Re Marriage of Wright

[255]

Opinion

KAUS, P. J.

Petitioner Philip Wright appeals from portions of an interlocutory judgment of dissolution of marriage. Respondent is Jane Wright.

Facts

The parties were married in 1957 and separated in March 1973. Jane, a housewife, was 37 years old, and Philip, a surgeon, was 39 years old when they separated. They have four children, bom in 1958, 1961, 1963, and 1966.

The couple met when they were both students at Occidental College. Jane obtained a teaching credential and began to teach. They then moved to Chicago, where Philip attended medical school and Jane worked. Two children were bom in Chicago. They then moved to Los Angeles where Philip interned at U.C.L.A., and then was a resident for five years at Harbor General Hospital. Jane was last employed in 1963. The third and fourth children were bom in 1963 and 1966.

When Philip was drafted by the Navy, the family moved to the Philippines in 1967, where they lived for two years. They returned to California in 1969 and Philip became associated with a medical firm as a heart surgeon. Philip’s partnership arrangements with the medical firm were terminated in June 1973, after the couple separated. He set up his own practice and hired a surgeon.

The litigation involved in the dissolution was protracted. Although the community property created no particular difficulties—it amounted to only $56,000, including the equity in the family home—the extent of Philip’s earning was a problem. A “short cause” trial scheduled for July 1974 was continued to October 1974, when it developed that both parties had been incorrectly advised as to Philip’s income. Extensive discovery followed, including taking the deposition of Philip’s associate. An attempt to subpoena business records of the associate was resisted, in part successfully. The trial was not held until November 1974. It consumed several days.

The trial court found that Philip’s “net income” was “in the range of $115,000” a year; that Jane needed support in the amount of $2,000 a month and that the children needed support in the amount of $200 per