In re Marriage of Lontos

In In re Marriage of Lontos (1979) 89 Cal. App. 3d 61, the parties had met and married in California; one of their three children was born in California; they had lived continuously in California for six years before they moved to New Mexico where the husband, who was in the United States Marine Corps, had been transferred. ( Lontos, supra, 89 Cal. App. 3d at pp. 64-65.) The husband then abandoned his wife and three children, leaving them $ 10 for support; and the wife and children returned to San Diego and obtained welfare assistance when husband refused to pay court-ordered support. (Ibid.) Based on these facts, the court in Lontos found that the husband's contacts in California, together with his abandonment of the family, which constituted "proof of a purposeful causing of an effect creating a substantial contact in California," were "of such quality and nature that it was 'reasonable' and 'fair' to require him to conduct his defense in California." ( Id. at pp. 71-72.)