SECTIONS 3080-3092 - California Statutes

PROBATE CODE

SECTION 3080-3092

3080. If one spouse has a conservator and the other spouse has the
management or control of community property, the conservator or
conservatee, a relative or friend of the conservatee, or any
interested person may file a petition under this article in the court
in which the conservatorship proceeding is pending for an order
requiring the spouse who has the management or control of community
property to apply the income or principal, or both, of the community
property to the support and maintenance of the conservatee as ordered
by the court.

3081. (a) Notice of the hearing on the petition shall be given for
the period and in the manner provided in Chapter 3 (commencing with
Section 1460) of Part 1.
(b) If the spouse who has the management or control of community
property is not the conservator, the petitioner shall also cause
notice of the hearing and a copy of the petition to be served on that
spouse in accordance with Title 5 (commencing with Section 410.10)
of Part 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

3082. Upon the filing of a petition under this article, the court
may cite the spouse who has the management or control of community
property to appear before the court, and the court and the petitioner
may examine the spouse under oath concerning the community property
and other matters relevant to the petition filed under this article.
If the person so cited refuses to appear and submit to an
examination, the court may proceed against the person as provided in
Article 2 (commencing with Section 8870) of Chapter 2 of Part 3 of
Division 7. Upon such examination, the court may make an order
requiring the person cited to disclose his or her knowledge of the
community property and other matters relevant to the petition filed
under this article, and if the order is not complied with the court
may proceed against the person as provided in Article 2 (commencing
with Section 8870) of Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 7.

3083. In any proceeding under this article, the court may, after
notice and hearing, order the spouse who has the management or
control of community property to pay from the community property such
amount as the court determines is necessary to the support and
maintenance of the conservatee spouse pending the determination of
the petition under this article. An order made pursuant to this
section does not prejudice the rights of the spouses or other
interested parties with respect to any subsequent order which may be
made under this article. Any order made under this section may be
modified or revoked at any time except as to any amount that may have
accrued prior to the date of filing of the petition to modify or
revoke the order.

3084. When a petition is filed under this article, the spouse
having the management or control of community property shall serve
and file a current income and expense declaration and a current
property declaration on the forms prescribed by the Judicial Council
for use in family law proceedings.

3085. During the pendency of any proceeding under this article, the
court, upon the application of the petitioner, may issue ex parte
orders:
(a) Restraining the spouse having the management or control of
community property from transferring, encumbering, hypothecating,
concealing, or in any way disposing of any property, real or
personal, whether community, quasi-community, or separate, except in
the usual course of business or for the necessities of life.
(b) Requiring the spouse having the management or control of the
community property to notify the petitioner of any proposed
extraordinary expenditures and to account to the court for all such
extraordinary expenditures.

3086. Any person interested in the proceeding under this article
may request time for filing a response to the petition, for discovery
proceedings, or for other preparation for the hearing, and the court
shall grant a continuance for a reasonable time for any of such
purposes.

3087. In a proceeding under this article, the court may hear and
determine whether property is community property or the separate
property of either spouse if that issue is raised in the proceeding.

3088. (a) The court may order the spouse who has the management or
control of community property to apply the income or principal, or
both, of the community property to the support and maintenance of the
conservatee, including care, treatment, and support of a conservatee
who is a patient in a state hospital under the jurisdiction of the
State Department of Mental Health or the State Department of
Developmental Services, as ordered by the court.
(b) In determining the amount ordered for support and maintenance,
the court shall consider the following circumstances of the spouses:
(1) The earning capacity and needs of each spouse.
(2) The obligations and assets, including the separate property,
of each spouse.
(3) The duration of the marriage.
(4) The age and health of the spouses.
(5) The standard of living of the spouses.
(6) Any other relevant factors which it considers just and
equitable.
(c) At the request of any interested person, the court shall make
appropriate findings with respect to the circumstances.
(d) The court may order the spouse who has the management or
control of community property to make a specified monthly or other
periodic payment to the conservator of the person of the conservatee
or to any other person designated in the order. The court may order
the spouse required to make the periodic payments to give reasonable
security therefor.
(e) (1) The court may order the spouse required to make the
periodic payments to assign, to the person designated in the order to
receive the payments, that portion of the earnings of the spouse due
or to be due in the future as will be sufficient to pay the amount
ordered by the court for the support and maintenance of the
conservatee. The order operates as an assignment and is binding upon
any existing or future employer upon whom a copy of the order is
served. The order shall be in the form of an earnings assignment
order for support prescribed by the Judicial Council for use in
family law proceedings. The employer may deduct the sum of one dollar
and fifty cents ($1.50) for each payment made pursuant to the order.
Any such assignment made pursuant to court order shall have priority
as against any execution or other assignment unless otherwise
ordered by the court or unless the other assignment is made pursuant
to Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 5200) of Part 5 of Division 9
of the Family Code. No employer shall use any assignment authorized
by this subdivision as grounds for the dismissal of that employee.
(2) As used in this subdivision, "employer" includes the United
States government and any public entity as defined in Section 811.2
of the Government Code. This subdivision applies to the money and
benefits described in Sections 704.110 and 704.113 of the Code of
Civil Procedure to the extent that those moneys and benefits are
subject to a wage assignment for support under Chapter 4 (commencing
with Section 703.010) of Division 2 of Title 9 of Part 2 of the Code
of Civil Procedure.
(f) The court retains jurisdiction to modify or to vacate an order
made under this section where justice requires, except as to any
amount that may have accrued prior to the date of the filing of the
petition to modify or revoke the order. At the request of any
interested person, the order of modification or revocation shall
include findings of fact and may be made retroactive to the date of
the filing of the petition to revoke or modify, or to any date
subsequent thereto. At least 15 days before the hearing on the
petition to modify or vacate the order, the petitioner shall mail a
notice of the time and place of the hearing on the petition,
accompanied by a copy of the petition, to the spouse who has the
management or control of the community property. Notice shall be
given for the period and in the manner provided in Chapter 3
(commencing with Section 1460) of Part 1 to any other persons
entitled to notice of the hearing under that chapter.
(g) In a proceeding for dissolution of the marriage or for legal
separation, the court has jurisdiction to modify or vacate an order
made under this section to the same extent as it may modify or vacate
an order made in the proceeding for dissolution of the marriage or
for legal separation.

3089. If the spouse who has the management or control of the
community property refuses to comply with any order made under this
article or an order made in a separate action to provide support for
the conservatee spouse, upon request of the petitioner or other
interested person, the court may, in its discretion, divide the
community property and the quasi-community property of the spouses,
as it exists at the time of division, equally in the same manner as
where a marriage is dissolved. If the property is so divided, the
property awarded to each spouse is the separate property of that
spouse and the court shall order that the property awarded to the
conservatee spouse be transferred or paid over to the conservator of
the estate of that spouse to be included in the conservatorship
estate and be managed, controlled, and disposed of as a part of the
conservatorship estate. The fact that property has been divided
pursuant to this section has no effect on the nature of property
thereafter acquired by the spouses, and the determination whether the
thereafter-acquired property is community or separate property shall
be made without regard to the fact that property has been divided
pursuant to this section.

3090. Any order of the court made under this article may be
enforced by the court by execution, the appointment of a receiver,
contempt, or by such other order or orders as the court in its
discretion may from time to time deem necessary.

3091. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Judicial
Council may provide by rule for the practice and procedure in
proceedings under this article.

3092. Nothing in this article affects or limits the right of the
conservator or any interested person to institute an action against
any person to enforce the duty otherwise imposed by law to support
the spouse having a conservator. This article is permissive and in
addition to any other procedure otherwise available to enforce the
obligation of support.