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District Court held that the claim was founded on a divorce
decree and thereby deductible under section 2053, and the
Government appealed. Id.
The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the
District Court. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
agreed with the Government's position that a claim is founded on
the court decree only where "the court entering the decree had
the power to modify or alter the terms of the agreement." Id. at
231. The Court of Appeals, in concluding that the wife's claim
was founded on the marriage settlement agreement, observed that
"under California law a California court entering a divorce
decree, in the absence of fraud, has no power to modify or alter
the property agreement". Id. at 232. According to the Ninth
Circuit, the fact that the divorce court ordered the parties to
carry out the terms of the agreement only imposed an additional
method for enforcing its terms and did not change the conclusion
that the wife's claim was founded on the agreement.
Petitioner attempts to distinguish the present case by
noting that the law relating to property settlement agreements
has changed since the Ninth Circuit decided Gray v. United
States, supra, and cites a number of cases where the divorce
court altered the terms of a marriage settlement agreement. See
Adkins v. Adkins, 186 Cal. Rptr. 818 (Ct. App. 1983); Brennan v.
Brennan, 177 Cal. Rptr. 520 (Ct. App. 1981); Moore v. Moore, 169
Cal. Rptr. 619 (Ct. App. 1980). Petitioner's attempts to
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