LexyCorpus case page
CourtListener opinion 2752803
Date unknown · US
- Extracted case name
- In re the Marriage of MARIA CARMEN and JULIO CESAR SANTILLAN
- Extracted reporter citation
- 190 Cal.App.4th 739
- Docket / number
- pending
Machine-draft headnote
Machine-draft public headnote: CourtListener opinion 2752803 is included in the LexyCorpus QDRO sample set as a public CourtListener opinion with relevance to ERISA / defined contribution issues. The current annotation is conservative: it identifies source provenance, relevance signals, and evidence quotes for attorney/agent retrieval. It is not a Willie-approved legal headnote yet.
Retrieval annotation
Draft retrieval summary: this opinion has QDRO relevance score 5/5, retirement-division score 5/5, and family-law score 5/5. Use the quoted text and full opinion below before relying on the case.
Category: ERISA / defined contribution issues
Evidence quotes
QDRO“red throughout their marriage. The judgment divided their community property evenly. She deposited his retirement check into her account because, at that point, the court's judgment entitled her to half of it and he had not yet cooperated with her to get a qualified domestic relations order issued to separate their interests. Husband's health problems have been long-standing. 3 The documents husband provided to support this statement showed the deposit and withdrawal occurred in March 2013. 4 The court denied husband's request for relief, finding no basis to set aside the default and default judgment. Husband sought reconsideration of th”
retirement benefits“sal support for future determination and made wife responsible for approximately $12,000 in credit card debts. The court divided the marital property by awarding wife their home, the furnishings in it, two cars, 100 percent of the community interest in her retirement plan, approximately $60,000 from his 401k plan, and 50 percent of the community interest in his retirement plan. The court awarded husband three cars, a flatbed trailer, a motor home, tools, approximately $80,000 from his 401k plan, and 50 percent of the community interest in his retirement plan. On March 22, 2013, husband, now represented by counsel, filed”
401(k)“fe responsible for approximately $12,000 in credit card debts. The court divided the marital property by awarding wife their home, the furnishings in it, two cars, 100 percent of the community interest in her retirement plan, approximately $60,000 from his 401k plan, and 50 percent of the community interest in his retirement plan. The court awarded husband three cars, a flatbed trailer, a motor home, tools, approximately $80,000 from his 401k plan, and 50 percent of the community interest in his retirement plan. On March 22, 2013, husband, now represented by counsel, filed a request for an order setting asid”
domestic relations order“hout their marriage. The judgment divided their community property evenly. She deposited his retirement check into her account because, at that point, the court's judgment entitled her to half of it and he had not yet cooperated with her to get a qualified domestic relations order issued to separate their interests. Husband's health problems have been long-standing. 3 The documents husband provided to support this statement showed the deposit and withdrawal occurred in March 2013. 4 The court denied husband's request for relief, finding no basis to set aside the default and default judgment. Husband sought reconsideration of th”
Source and provenance
- Source type
- courtlistener_qdro_opinion_full_text
- Permissions posture
- public
- Generated status
- machine draft public v0
- Review status
- gold label pending
- Jurisdiction metadata
- US
- Deterministic extraction
- reporter: 190 Cal.App.4th 739
- Generated at
- May 14, 2026
Related public corpus pages
Deterministic links based on shared title/citation terms and QDRO / retirement / family-law retrieval scores.
Clean opinion text
Filed 11/18/14 Marriage of Santillan CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115. COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION ONE STATE OF CALIFORNIA In re the Marriage of MARIA CARMEN and JULIO CESAR SANTILLAN. D064022 MARIA CARMEN SANTILLAN, Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. EFL14212) v. JULIO CESAR SANTILLAN, Appellant. APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Imperial County, Poli Flores, Jr., Judge. Affirmed. J. Manuel Sanchez & Associates and J. Manuel Sanchez for Appellant. Marcus Family Law Center, Erin K. Tomlinson, Moriel Cohen, Ethan J. Marcus and Case Y. Kamshad for Respondent. INTRODUCTION Husband appeals from a court order denying his request to set aside a default and default judgment under Code of Civil Procedure section 473, subdivision (b).1 He contends we must reverse the order because the default and default judgment were the result of surprise and excusable neglect. We conclude husband has forfeited these contentions by failing to seek relief on these grounds below. Even if he had not forfeited these contentions, we affirm the order as he failed to establish the requisite surprise and excusable neglect. BACKGROUND On December 27, 2012, wife filed a petition for dissolution of her marriage to husband. The two had been married almost 31 years. On the same day, wife also obtained a temporary domestic violence restraining order against husband. The order included provisions giving her control of their home and requiring him to move out of it immediately. At a hearing on January 11, 2013, in which husband represented himself, the court granted wife a protective order effective for five years. Like the temporary restraining order, the protective order gave her control of their home and required him to move out of it immediately. At the same hearing, husband was served with wife's dissolution petition. 1 Further statutory references are also to the Code of Civil Procedure unless otherwise stated. 2 On February 20, 2013, wife requested entry of husband's default. On the same day, she filed an income and expense declaration stating she had gross monthly income of $2,168.17 and estimated monthly expenses of $2,384.98 plus monthly credit card payments of $345. She estimated husband had a monthly income of $620. The court entered default as requested on February 22, 2013. On February 25, 2013, the court entered a judgment of dissolution. In the judgment, the court reserved spousal support for future determination and made wife responsible for approximately $12,000 in credit card debts. The court divided the marital property by awarding wife their home, the furnishings in it, two cars, 100 percent of the community interest in her retirement plan, approximately $60,000 from his 401k plan, and 50 percent of the community interest in his retirement plan. The court awarded husband three cars, a flatbed trailer, a motor home, tools, approximately $80,000 from his 401k plan, and 50 percent of the community interest in his retirement plan. On March 22, 2013, husband, now represented by counsel, filed a request for an order setting aside the default and default judgment under section 473, subdivision (b).2 In his supporting memorandum of points and authorities, husband asserted the grounds for setting aside the default and default judgment were extrinsic fraud and lack of actual notice of the divorce proceedings. In his supporting declaration, he stated he and wife verbally agreed, on December 16, 2012, to hire an attorney to represent them both and to 2 Husband also requested spousal support, which the court later denied. We do not address the propriety of the spousal support order because husband's opening brief does not raise any specific challenges to it. 3 file for a stipulated divorce. They also agreed to divide all of the community assets equally and to reserve the issue of spousal support. He was subsequently shocked when a sheriff's officer served him with a restraining order and evicted him from their home on January 2, 2013. He was homeless for three days afterwards until he moved in with his sister. He was also penniless because wife had deposited his monthly retirement check into her credit union account and then withdrew the entire amount.3 He has diabetes and the situation affected his health as well as caused him to suffer from depression. He did not understand the pleadings served on him because his first language is Spanish and he was too affected by the restraining order and eviction to focus on anything else. Wife opposed the request for relief. In her supporting declaration, she stated husband speaks English and the summons with which he was served was translated into Spanish. She did not feel comfortable hiring a joint attorney because she did not trust husband, in part because of the domestic violence she endured throughout their marriage. The judgment divided their community property evenly. She deposited his retirement check into her account because, at that point, the court's judgment entitled her to half of it and he had not yet cooperated with her to get a qualified domestic relations order issued to separate their interests. Husband's health problems have been long-standing. 3 The documents husband provided to support this statement showed the deposit and withdrawal occurred in March 2013. 4 The court denied husband's request for relief, finding no basis to set aside the default and default judgment. Husband sought reconsideration of the court's decision and the court reaffirmed it. DISCUSSION Husband contends the court should have granted his request to set aside the default and default judgment because they were the result of surprise and excusable neglect. Husband has forfeited these contentions because he did not seek relief on either ground below. (Greenwich S.F., LLC v. Wong (2010) 190 Cal.App.4th 739, 767.) Instead, he sought relief on the grounds of extrinsic fraud and lack of actual notice. Even if husband had not forfeited these contentions, we are not persuaded the court erred in denying him relief. Under section 473, subdivision (b), a court has the discretion, \upon any terms as