In re Marriage of Turkanis and Price, Case No. B234011 et al. (2d Dist., Div. 8 Jan. 30, 2013) (published) faced two interesting questions: (1) can a non-encumbering spouse bring a motion to expunge an attorney’s family law attorney’s real property lien (FLARPL) granted by an encumbering spouse?; and (2) can a Borson (In re Marriage of Borson, 37 Cal.App.3d 632 (1974)) fee award be offset for unreasonable litigation conduct under Family Code section 271? Both questions received a “yes” answer.
Family Code sections 2034(c) supports such an expungement to protect the non-encumbering spouse’s property interest. (An encumbering spouse may also seek expungement to take care of an improvidently executed FLARPL.) While agreeing that its holding might engender some risks for attorneys who accept FLARP’s, the appellate court observed that trial courts routinely adjudicate the amount and reasonableness of fee awards (yes, they do) and should be permitted to revisit the amount of a duly recorded FLARP.
With respect to Borson fees (those fees allowable to a discharged attorney while a pending dissolution action exists and the former client consents/so moves for fees), fees could be limited based on unreasonable litigation conduct by the moving client under Family Code section 271.