Second District, Division 6 Affirms Award Based on Family Code section 271.
We have under our category “Family Law” discussed on many occasions the application of Family Code section 271, a sanctions-designed statute allowing attorney’s fees to be assessed against a family law litigant that is uncooperative, subverts resolution of disputes, and increases the costs of the overall dispute. That section came to bite the husband in the case we next discuss.
Husband was ordered to pay $8,000 in fees incurred by wife (at a clip of $1,000 per month) based on activities in moving to modify a child support order. The award was based on section 271, because husband had not provided all the requested financial information to wife in the child support modification battle. (The fee award could have been more, because wife requested fees of $12,207).
The Second District, Division 6 affirmed in Marriage of Davis, Case No. B203268 (2d Dist., Div. 6 Apr. 8, 2009) (unpublished). There was no basis for finding an abuse of discretion, the governing standard, based on the record presented before the appellate panel. “[Husband] may not withhold his financial records and now complain that the limited information he has produced does not support the trial court’s order.”