No Due Process Was Satisfied And Ex-Husband Had No Ability To Pay.
Family law practitioners should pay attention to Mar v. Ligne, Case No. A158768 (1st Dist., Div. 2 Dec. 16, 2020) (unpublished) with respect to what needs to be done to sustain a Family Code section 271 sanctions award.
The 271 sanctions award, only $1,225, did not hold up on appeal. The reasons were two-fold. First, litigants need to satisfy notice requirements, with the family court never indicating, nor the litigants, that these types of sanctions were being sought. Second, the record showed that ex-husband had no ability to pay these sanctions—with the transcript showing he had a hard time making “ends meet” and could not pay any sanctions award. Reversed.