Limiting Expenses To Wife’s Trial Preparation Was Reasonable, Given Prior Activity In The Case.
Wife, the party who controlled the finances during her marriage with ex-husband, was sorely disappointed when the family law judge only awarded attorney’s fees for her trial preparation. Her appeal of this discretionary decision was not successful in Marriage of Douthit and Jones, Case No. B254719 (2d Dist., Div. 5 Aug. 6, 2015) (unpublished). Drawing a “trial preparation” line in the sand was a reasonableness determination which was fair, given that the record showed the case was not complicated, wife had serially hired four law firms to represent her during the 5 ½ years that the case was pending, much of the trial evidence was obtained by the first firm representing her interests, and wife’s pursuit of implausible/non-credible claims required consideration in the “mix” of what should be awarded as fees.