A husband and wife divorced and entered into a marital settlement agreement (MSA) requiring the husband to pay the wife spousal support until her death or remarriage. The husband waived the automatic termination of spousal support upon his death. The husband remarried and transferred title of his separately-owned real estate to himself and his new wife as joint tenants. After the husband died, his new wife terminated the spousal support the husband paid to his ex-wife under the MSA. The ex-wife sought to impose liability on the new wife for the spousal support payments under the MSA, limited to the value of the separately-owned property the husband conveyed to himself and his new wife as joint tenants. The ex-wife claimed the new wife, as the owner by survivorship, breached the terms of the MSA by terminating spousal support payments since the new wife was responsible for the deceased husband’s obligation to his ex-wife. The new wife claimed she properly terminated spousal support since she held title to her deceased husband’s property free of creditor’s claims as the surviving joint tenant. A California court of appeals held a surviving wife is obligated to pay spousal support to a deceased husband’s ex-wife under the terms of a marital settlement agreement (MSA), limited to the value of the property held in joint tenancy by the deceased husband and his surviving spouse, since the surviving spouse is responsible for the deceased husband’s MSA debts owed to his ex-wife up to the value of all property he passes to his surviving spouse. [Kircher v. Kircher (2010) 189 CA4th 1105]
