Martin v. Martin
California Court of Appeal
Sup. Ct. No. 230798 (1984)
- Written by Eric Miller, JD
Facts
Thomas Martin (defendant) and Jean Martin (plaintiff) married in 1948 and divorced in 1979. In the later part of the marriage, Thomas engaged in a 15-year relationship with another woman for whom he made significant expenditures in terms of money, gifts, and travel-expense payments. Jean filed for divorce. The trial court determined that of the couple’s total community assets of $3,555,006, Thomas had misappropriated $67,704 in connection with the extramarital relationship. Thomas was ordered to pay the misappropriated amount. Jean appealed, arguing that the $67,704 award should include interest. Thomas cross-appealed, contending that the funds spent on the extramarital relationship were supported by valuable consideration in the form of benefits to his personal happiness, and that he was responsible for amassing the more than $3 million in total assets. The California Court of Appeal granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Holmdahl, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.