Rhoades

Wife obtained an interlocutory judgment of dissolution of marriage by default. Husband moved to set aside the judgment under Code of Civil Procedure section 473 based on his attorney’s failure to properly represent him and to change venue of the dissolution proceedings from Orange to Plumas County. The court denied the motion to set aside the default judgment and determined the motion to change venue was thus moot.

I

Marydarlene Rhoades left her husband, Edwin James Rhoades, Jr., on October 6, 1981. She moved with the couple’s then eight-year-old daughter from the family home in Plumas County to Orange County. On November 4, 1981, after a noticed hearing in Orange County attended by both parties without counsel, the court ordered husband not to contact his wife or daughter for 90 days and to pay temporary child support of $150 per month.

*171 On November 30, 1981, wife filed a petition for legal separation. The summons and petition were personally served on husband on December 11, 1981. He retained an attorney on December 17, 1981, but did not respond to the petition. On January 12, 1982, after wife met the three-month residency requirement (Code Civ. Proc., § 395,…