Olson

Christopher Dale Olson filed for divorce from Heather Rae Olson, requesting joint custody of their two young children. 1 Heather did not respond, and a default judgment of dissolution, including a custody order, was granted. Over a year later, Heather petitioned for a modification of the custody order. Christopher objected, contending that because the default judgment remained in effect, Heather lacked standing to request a modification.

The trial court ruled that Heather did have standing to seek the modification and ordered the couple to participate in a parenting plan assessment program. Although this order is not appealable, we exercise our discretion to treat this appeal as a petition for a writ of mandate and deny the petition.

We hold that a parent has standing under Family Code section 3087 to request a modification of a child custody judgment notwithstanding that the judgment sought to be modified was a default judgment taken against the parent who is petitioning for the change.

*1461 FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

On October 12, 2011, Christopher filed a petition for dissolution of marriage to obtain a divorce from Heather, his wife of nine years. Heather did…