Wife Had Not Cooperated in Sale of Couple’s Property and Nixed Top-of-the-Market Offer.
Marriage of Richard, Case No. B223552 (2d Dist., Div. 3 Dec. 14, 2011) (unpublished) is interesting to show just how long cases can go and the breadth of family law judge discretion when imposing sanctions under Family Code section 271.
You know this was not good, either way, when the appellate court early on said that “this litigation began during the Reagan administration” and had lots of proceedings which ensued over the next 25 years.
In a word, wife eventually was hit with a $40,046 fee/costs award in favor of husband. The family law judge also imposed $10,000 in sanctions upon her under section 271, which allows for fees and costs to be awarded against a litigant who fails to cooperate and advance resolution of a family law case.
Wife’s appeal was unsuccessful. No abuse of discretion was had here, where wife failed to cooperate in the selling of the couple’s house and nixed a top-of-the-market offer. Nothing definitively showed that the lower court failed to consider wife’s financial ability to pay (an essential element of a section 271 award), and the other challenges were not borne out by the appellate record.
Comments