County of L.A. Child Support Services Dept. v. Watson
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The Department filed suit against defendant, seeking an order compelling him to make monthly child support payments effective December 1, 2017. After defendant failed to respond, the superior court entered a default judgment unilaterally changing the effective date of the child support obligation to March 1, 2018.
The Court of Appeal reversed and held that there was no evidence (let alone substantial evidence) on which the superior court could find that defendant did not evade service, intentionally or otherwise. Therefore, in the absence of such evidence, the superior court erred in changing the effective date of the child support obligation sua sponte to deprive defendant's children of three months of support. Accordingly, the court remanded with directions to enter the proposed judgment as the final judgment.
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