My friend's wife filed for divorce, and he didn't get the papers to the courthouse in time. She filed for default on February 4th. The court hearing is today, on the website it says "Trial-Default Prove-Up". What does that mean, and how much longer does he have until the divorce is finalized? :confused:

There are no contests to the divorce by either party.

He is in Oregon due to the military, the wife is in California with her family.

A default prove up hearing is an uncontested trial in a case in which a default has been entered due to the Respondent/Defendant having failed to make a general appearance in the case. It's the way (but not always required) that the court takes evidence in a case to enter a judgment. In California, even in a default, the court still must divide community property equally and allocate community debt equally (there are some exceptions to the debt allocation rule) but the defaulting party is uninvolved. The default prove up is like a mini trial.

But, hold the phone, having said all of that, how was a default entered if he (husband) is in the military? That's not suppose to happen unless he was appointed counsel.

He's in the coast guard. I never knew it made a difference, and he wasn't contesting to anything in the papers so didn't think it mattered. He recently got the "Entry of Judgement" form. Does this mean its final?

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Originally Posted by krysta217

He's in the coast guard. I never knew it made a difference, and he wasn't contesting to anything in the papers so didn't think it mattered. He recently got the "Entry of Judgement" form. Does this mean its final?

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Whenever you submit a judgment to the court to be processed you have to include a form entitled, "Notice of Entry of Judgment" , with a least two copies, and with it two envelopes with postage, one addressed to one party and the other to the other party. Once the court enters the judgment, the clerk mails the notices out and on them a date is entered indicating the date the judgment was entered.

So yes, if he received this in the mail the judgment must have been entered. Since he's in the Coast Guard, I assume that he either filed an Appearance, Stipulations and Waivers form or that it went by default and he was either appointed an attorney or the other side misrepresented his status in the military (a big NO, NO).

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Originally Posted by cadillac59

Since he's in the Coast Guard, I assume that he either filed an Appearance, Stipulations and Waivers form or that it went by default and he was either appointed an attorney or the other side misrepresented his status in the military (a big NO, NO).

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The papers were filed completely by the wife, in this case. I don't think the courthouse is aware of his military status, he has no attorney as he wasn't contesting to the divorce.
At this point, he doesn't want to hold up the divorce - everything is almost done.
The "waiting period" for California, is that from the date the respondent is served the divorce papers, or from the date the judgement is entered?

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Originally Posted by krysta217

The papers were filed completely by the wife, in this case. I don't think the courthouse is aware of his military status, he has no attorney as he wasn't contesting to the divorce.
At this point, he doesn't want to hold up the divorce - everything is almost done.
The "waiting period" for California, is that from the date the respondent is served the divorce papers, or from the date the judgement is entered?

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The waiting period (that applies to termination of marital status only) is 6 months from the earlier of either date of service or the date a response is filed. In this case since there was no response filed, it's from the date of service (in Sacramento County they say it's 6 months and one day-- I don't know why they do it like that there when the code just says 6 months).