Marriage of Jenkins

I. BACKGROUND

A. After more than twenty-two years of marriage, Katia and James separated in October 2020. Katia, then unrepresented, filed a standard form dissolution petition (FL-100)2 on January 13, 2021. In the sections of the petition asking her to list separate property and community property, Katia stated “To be determined.” A later-filed proof of service showed personal service of the summons and petition on James on April 14, 2021, at 24 Mariposa Lane in Orinda. James failed to file an answer. In an effort to move the case forward, Katia retained counsel, who substituted into the case in September 2021. She then took James’s default on October 22, 2021. Along with her request for entry of default (FL-165), Katia filed a request for an order bifurcating the issue of termination of marital status. The clerk entered James’s default the same day Katia requested it, and, by handwritten annotation, set a hearing on bifurcation and termination of marital status for “1/24/21.”3 The default, as entered, shows that the clerk mailed it to James at the 24 Mariposa Lane address, where personal service of the petition had been effected.

1 As is customary in family law cases, we use…