Family Law Award: “Feliz Navidad” …. Hardly, In the Feliciano Divorce Saga

Fourth District, Division 3 Reverses Denial of Wife’s Request for Family Code section 271 Sanctions.

      The next case showcases a 30-year divorce saga between Jose and Janna Feliciano, who co-wrote and produced many popular songs, with one of the most famous being Feliz Navidad. A family law judge determined that Janna would not share in certain artist royalties and refused her request to impose Family Code section 271 sanctions upon Jose based on evidence he had been uncooperative and obstreperous for decades. The Fourth District, Division 3 got the dispute when Janna appealed from these adverse rulings.

     Janna won her appeal on both fronts in Marriage of Feliciano, Case No. G039357 (4th Dist., Div. 3 May 15, 2009) (unpublished). In a 3-0 decision authored by Justice O’Leary, the appellate panel found that the family law judge erroneously denied the section 271 sanctions request solely because no current income and expense declarations had been filed by either side. Section 271 is clear in not requiring such submissions as a jurisdictional requirement; rather, all that was required was to give Jose notice of the sanction request and an opportunity to be heard. Beyond that, the Court of Appeal felt that Jose should not have prevailed on the request simply by not responding to it and not filing financial information if he thought it was truly necessary. The fee award denial was reversed and remanded for further action (with the fee request likely to be a big number—given that Janna had filed some documents indicating that she had expended over $400,000 in fees!).

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