Lower Court Also Did Consider Wife’s Financial Condition in Rendering Award.
Here is another Family Code section 271 award that was affirmed on appeal based on the abuse of discretion standard. This is a tough standard to surmount, as wife learned in challenging a $5,000 award to husband.
In Marriage of Wolf, Case No. H035303 (6th Dist. Mar. 1, 2011) (unpublished), husband was awarded $5,000 (out of a requested $8,556 in incurred fees) under Family Code section 271, a provision designed to promote settlement and to encourage cooperation which will reduce the costs of litigation. Awards under this section are in the nature of a saction. (In re Marriage of Petropoulos, 91 Cal.App.4th 161, 177 (2001).) Wife appealed.
Wife did not succeed on appeal.
Reason? She could not beat the deferential abuse of discretion standard of review. The record showed that she “shorted” husband on a certain payment due (requiring him to expend funds to get it), failed to execute documents to transfer an interest in an LLC to husband, and did not respond to information on certain asset sales. The trial court also did consider her financial condition in determining wife’s ability to pay, expressing doubt she would be candid but examining one file with asset and liability information–which was enough.