In Re Richard Arthur Comer, Debtor. Elaine F. Comer v. Richard Arthur Comer

This is an appeal by a debtor, Richard Comer, arising from the judgment of the bankruptcy court. The bankruptcy court determined that a judgment debt which Elaine Comer, Richard Comer’s former wife, had obtained in the state courts was nondischargeable, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 523 (a)(5), and excluded Richard’s evidence attacking the validity and extent of his obligation to Elaine as irrelevant to its determination of dischargeability. We affirm.

FACTS

Richard Comer and Elaine Comer are former husband and wife. In 1967, while residents of New York, they executed a marital separation agreement calling for weekly alimony and child support. In 1973, Richard Comer, having moved to California, obtained an interlocutory judgment of dissolution of the marriage in the Superior Court of San Bernardino County, California. In 1979, Elaine sued Richard in the New York State Supreme Court for breach of the original marital separation agreement executed in 1967. Richard was duly served in the action but failed to appear, and Elaine obtained a default judgment. About two months later, Elaine obtained a sister state money judgment in the Superior Court of Santa Clara County, California based…