Schultze

In this case we hold that after the execution of a valid marital settlement agreement, negotiated at arms’ length and providing a community business is transferred to the spouse who had been exclusively operating it as his separate property, all obligations of the business incurred thereafter are the sole obligation of the recipient spouse, even though incurred before entry of an interlocutory judgment of dissolution of the marriage incorporating the marital settlement agreement. We further hold that amendments to the Family Law Act providing for the personal liability of a spouse and the liability of separate or community property for debt, which are expressly declared by the Legislature to be applicable to all debts enforced on or after a given date, do not violate due process, even as to debts incurred before the operative date of the amendments.

American Olean Tile Company (American) sued Horst and Irmgard Schultze, whose marriage had been dissolved, for nonpayment of a promissory note executed by Horst on May 6, 1981. The Schultzes had separated on April 1, 1980. On May 1, 1981, they executed a marital settlement agreement dividing their community property; it was…