Make Sure Your Supporting Evidence Gets Properly Admitted, With Judicial Notice Not Likely To Get The Job Done!
The Fifth District in Marriage of Patterson, Case No. F076753 (5th Dist. Feb. 9, 2021) (unpublished) reversed a Family Code section 1101(g) $75,000 sanctions award—mainly for attorney’s fees—in favor of ex-husband and against ex-wife. The reason was simple: lack of competent evidentiary support. The declaration indicating ex-husband paid $75,000, the predicate of the award, was not admitted into evidence (even though filed in court, an act which does not automatically mean it was actually received into evidence) and not properly judicially noticed in the matter. So, a remand was ordered, with nothing preventing the reintroduction of the income and expense declaration so as to provide an evidentiary foundation for any future sanctions award.