Abstract
This Article deals with the issues that arise when Washington courts face the following scenario. One spouse enters into a contract without the joinder (and perhaps without the knowledge) of the other spouse. Both spouses are domiciled in Washington. The contract has contacts with one or more jurisdictions other than Washington and is generally governed as to validity and interpretation by the law of another jurisdiction. The contracting spouse defaults and the other party to the contract obtains a judgment on the contract. The court confronts a question about the property to which the plaintiff will have recourse to collect the judgment.
This Article will briefly describe the basics of Washington’s community property laws as they relate to contract obligations incurred by one spouse without the joinder of the other. It will then survey Washington’s choice of law rules generally and its earlier cases dealing with the choice of law for the property recourse issue. Finally, it will discuss and critique the Shanghai Commercial case in more detail. It respectfully concludes that Shanghai Commercial was wrongly decided both as a policy matter and in its application of prior Washington law and that the courts of Arizona, another community property state, have taken a better approach to the property recourse issue.
Recommended Citation
Brian D. Hulse, Court’s Choice of Law Ruling Undermines Washington Community Property Law: A Critique of Shanghai Commercial Bank v. Chang, 46 SEATTLE U. L. REV. 673 (2023).
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