Husband and Wife: Till Eviction Do Us Part

Here is a random bit of trivia. Assume a landlord is trying to evict a husband and wife. The landlord ought to name both in the complaint. Further assume that when answering the complaint one of the spouses is unavailable. According to California Code of Civil Procedure section 371: "If a husband and wife are sued together, each may defend for his or her own right, but if one spouse neglects to defend, the other spouse may defend for that spouse's right also." This means that in answering the complaint one spouse may sign the complaint for both (but better have a good reason for doing so). The spouse must first sign using his own signature, then sign by writing something such as "[name] for spouse / co-defendant [spouse's name] per CCP section 371." then sign again. Note that this will not work for all documents.