Due Process Violations Are Important in this One.
Marriage of Tossey, Case No. G044484 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Aug. 16, 2012) (unpublished), authored by Justice Aronson on behalf of a 3-0 panel, reminds us once again that due process issues are important to appellate courts when deciding appeals.
Wife challenged a trial court’s order that husband did not have pay a portion of wife’s fees on reserved issues that were later set for trial. Tentative rulings along the way indicated that the lower court felt wife was on a path toward becoming self-supporting even though she was receiving temporary spousal support. Ultimately, she was denied fee recovery in a subsequent hearing where no further evidence was allowed to be presented.
Fee denial and other orders reserved for later determination were reversed. Reason? Due process. Although reserving issues for later determination (include fee recovery by wife), the lower court allowed no more evidence–expressly excluding evidence on imputed income and permanent spousal support obligations. This alone required overturning of the adverse fee order against wife.