Record Showed She Went Through A Lot Of Attorneys And Rejected Initial Settlement Offers Which Were Within The Realm Of The Ultimate Outcomes In The Dissolution Case.
In Marriage of Santore, Case No. G055121 (4th Dist., Div. 3 June 21, 2019) (unpublished), ex-wife was denied a request for $193,223.43 in attorney’s fees based on need (Family Code section 4320) or as sanctions (Family Code section 271). The 4/3 DCA, in a 3-0 opinion authored by Justice Ikola, affirmed. The record supported the result based on these facts: (1) ex-wife represented herself in pro per after going through seven prior attorneys and racking up $204,406.27 in fees, while ex-husband stayed with one attorney throughout; (2) some of the fees were the result of a QDRO attorney’s calculation mistake which caused distrust by ex-wife; and (3) ex-wife’s unfamiliarity with the process caused her to reject ex-husband’s initial settlement offers at an early stage which were within the striking range of the ultimate outcomes.