No Evidence On Financial Need Was Presented, Although Appellate Court Noted A Split On Intermediate Appeal Thinking On Whether Needs-Based Fees Are Warranted In This Area. In Marriage of Etheridge, Case No. A167520 (1st Dist., Div. 2 Apr. 30, 2024) (unpublished), ex-husband made an oral request for Family Code section 2030 needs-based fees in […]
Ex-Husband Could Not Show An Abuse Of Discretion, Especially With No Reporter’s Transcript. In Marriage of Longinotti and Karpala, Case No. H051393 (6th Dist. Apr. 25, 2024) (unpublished), ex-husband requested the family law judge to modify a Family Code section 2030 need-based fees/costs award to ex-wife after he paid a substantial part of it
. . . Either By Written Motion Or By Oral Motion At A Hearing. In Marriage of Hinker, Case Nos. G061718 et al. (4th Dist., Div. 3 Apr. 12, 2024) (unpublished), Justice Delaney on behalf of a 3-0 panel confirmed that a court’s obligations under Family Code section 2030 [the provision allowing provisional fee
Family Code Section 271(a) Mandates Consideration Of Ability To Pay. Although we have posted on this before, Family Code section 271(a) mandates that a family law judge takes into consideration a litigant’s ability to pay when assessing section 271 sanctions. In Jayasuriya v. Jayasuriya, Case Nos. A166864 et al. (1st Dist., div. 3 Mar.
It Did Not Matter If The Debt Was Incurred Before Marriage Or If The Fee Award Was Fixed After Separation. Although unpublished, Marriage of Ferris, Case No. A165952 (1st Dist., Div. 5 Mar. 15, 2024) (unpublished) may be an eye opener for spouses who may not have been informed about contractual debts incurred by
Family Code Section 6344 Applies Retroactively. In Dragones III v. Calkins, Case No. B329659 (2d Dist., Div. 7 Jan. 17, 2024) (published), the 2/7 DCA confronted whether Family Code section 6344, effective 2023, made it easier for a prevailing petitioner to obtain fees and harder for a prevailing respondent to obtain fees in actions
Also, Fee/Costs Award Under Indemnity Agreement Only Recoverable Against Ex-Husband, A Signatory To The Agreement, But No Fee Exposure Under The Third-Party Indemnity Provision; Needs-Based Fees Paid To Both Spouses Are Separate Debts Of Husband For His Need-Based Fees And Community Debts For Fees To Both Spouses. Acting Presiding Justice Moore, in In re
Ex-Wife Had To Bear $931,000 In Fees, Much Lower Than Multi-Millions In Fees Incurred By Husband. In re Marriage of Whitman, Case No. A157055 (1st Dist., Div. 2 Dec. 29, 2023) (partially published) involved ex-husband, a hedge fund founder, who incurred multi-millions in fees defending himself in a criminal insider trading case and a
Ex-Husband Did Have Ability To Pay, With The Lower Court Structuring The Fee Recovery To Ameliorate Hardship. Acting Presiding Justice Bedsworth, on behalf of a 3-0 panel, authored Marriage of Lou and Ma, Case No. G061015 et al. (4th Dist., Div. 3 Dec. 6, 2023) (unpublished). Ex-husband in a dissolution case appealed an award
Because Ex-Husband Did Timely Pay An Earlier Discovery Sanctions, 271 Sanctions Order Had To Be Revisited Based On Lower Court Error On This Discrete Issue. Family Code section 271 sanctions can be steep. This is a statutory provision that allows considerable leeway to a lower court to impose sanctions in a dissolution proceeding against
