Family Judge Does Not Have To Expressly State Whether Consideration Was Given to Financial Burdens.
An ex-wife in In re Marriage of Loumena, Case Nos. H032608/H033027 (6th Dist. Feb. 8, 2011) (unpublished) was hit with a sanctions award of $100,000 (out of a requested $355,000, $250,000 of which comprised attorney’s fees) under Family Code section 271. This is the sanctions statute allowing imposition of fees and costs against a litigant in family law proceedings frustrating settlement, increasing litigation costs, and/or failing to cooperate, as long as the sanction does not impose an unreasonable financial burden on the sanctioned party. It was that last caveat that was at issue in Loumena.
Wife did submit papers and proof that she was jobless, had no income, and had considerable debts. However, the trial court obviously rejected this because there were other indicia that she had received considerable sales proceeds from the sale of certain community property. Her main challenge was that the family law judge did not consider the financial burden factor because sanctions were imposed only upon the comment the judge “had considered” all of the briefing submitted by the parties. That sufficed, because “[w]ife cites no authority for the proposition that a sanctions order under Family Code section 271, subdivision (a) must expressly state that the court considered whether the award will impose an ‘unreasonable financial burden’ on the party against whom it is imposed.” (Slip Opn, at p. 17.)
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