In the Matter of Cecilia May Paderewski (Bankrupt). C. J. Paderewski, and v. John H. Barrett, Oscar F. Irwin, and Lewis H. Silverberg, Co-Trustees And

C. J. Paderewski appeals from an order of a referee in bankruptcy dividing the proceeds from the sale of community real property owned by appellant and his former wife, the bankrupt. Paderewski contends that the referee incorrectly measured the interest which passed to the bankrupt’s trustees when she filed her petition in bankruptcy. The United States District Court for the Southern District of California affirmed the referee’s order. We reverse.

The Paderewskis were married in 1935. Appellant was granted an interlocutory judgment of divorce in California on July 25, 1967. No appeal was taken from the interlocutory judgment. A final judgment of divorce was entered on April 15, 1969.

In the interlocutory judgment of divorce, the trial judge divided the community property equally between the parties. Among the community assets was the Paderewskis’ residence, which the trial judge ordered to be sold. The court ordered that the first trust deed and taxes on the property, the costs of sale, the community debts listed at $15,000, and the attorneys’ fees for the parties were to be paid out of the gross proceeds before any division of the proceeds was made. Appellant was ordered to pay…