Attorneys Did Seek Sanctions On Behalf Of Wife And Failure To Include Income/Expense Declaration On Appeal Failed To Support Husband’s Financial Burden Argument.
In Marriage of Sokol & Avidor, Case No. B280783 (2d Dist., Div. 5 June 20, 2018) (unpublished), husband was ordered to pay a total of $114,522.50 in Family Code section 270 based on failing to cooperate and driving up expenses during the course of a dissolution proceeding. Of that, $14,552.50 was awarded to one of wife’s former attorneys, and $100,000 went to wife’s then-current attorney based on five instances of sanctionable conduct. (By the way, husband did not have to pay needs-based fees to wife.)
The 2/5 DCA affirmed the sanctions awards.
Husband argued that the family law judge erred by ordering him to pay wife’s attorneys directly, in contravention of Webb v. Webb, 12 Cal.App.5th 876, 883 (2017) [which held that section 270 “contemplates that only a party may move for an award of sanctions”]. The reviewing court found Webb distinguishable because the record indicated that the sanctions were imposed for wife’s benefit, not just the attorneys’ benefit such that they would be credited to her fee obligations. With respect to the argument that the awards were financially crushing for husband, he failed to include a filed copy of an income/expense declaration with the appellate record (despite being submitted before the lower court), such that the appellate court presumed that the declaration supported the court’s conclusion that sanctions would not impose an unreasonable financial burden.