Marriage of Gomez and Mellen CA2/7
Opinion
Opinion
INTRODUCTION
Susan Mellen claims she was never married to Steven Gomez because, when she purportedly married him on March 14, 1993, she was already married to someone else. In 2019 Mellen filed this action to annul her marriage to Gomez. Gomez did not timely respond, and the court entered his default. Gomez moved to set aside the default under Code of Civil Procedure section 473, subdivision (b),1 but the family law court denied the motion. The family law court subsequently entered a default judgment declaring the marriage a nullity. Gomez appeals, and we reverse.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
On September 23, 2019 Mellen filed a petition seeking to annul her marriage to Gomez,2 who has been incarcerated since 1997.3 On October 7, 2019 Mellen served Gomez with the petition at a prison in Fresno County. When Gomez did not
Statutory references are to the Code of Civil Procedure.
Mellen claims that Gomez, who was “engaged in certain illegal activities,” convinced her to marry him in 1993 “in a misguided attempt to create spousal immunity” and that it “was never a real marriage.” She obtained a dissolution of her first marriage in 2019.