Languishing Nature Of Case And Ex-Wife’s Debt To Ex-Husband Figured In The Result.
In Marriage of Charchian & Mahgereftech, Case No. B270201 (2d Dist., Div. 2 July 31, 2019) (unpublished), ex-wife let a dissolution case languish for five years, went through multiple attorneys, eventually had a judge conclude she was entitled to very little pendente lite attorney’s fees because she had availed herself of community property funds, owed a debt of $150,000 to ex-husband at the end of the day, was not ready for trial, and was denied a request for fees to appeal determinations in the case because of a lower court’s conclusion that the appeal could not be shown to have been brought in good faith.
The 2/2 DCA affirmed in a very exhaustively reasoned decision. On the request for attorney’s fees to process appeal, the appellate court discussed In re Marriage of Davis, 141 Cal.App.3d 71, 78 (1983), which set forth four factors which a party must satisfy to warrant an award of fees on appeal: “(1) the requesting spouse must show a need for the award; (2) the paying spouse must have the ability to pay the fees; (3) the appeal must be taken in good faith; and (4) there must be reasonable grounds for the appeal, although this does not imply that the requesting spouse must prevail on appeal. [Citation.]” Appellant argued that Davis was no longer good law, but the appellate court rejected this argument because the Legislature had not acted to undermine it for over 30 years. Beyond that, under these factors, the good-sized debt owed to husband and lower court’s conclusion of not seeing much merit to the appeal further supported affirmance of decision to not authorize fees for an appeal not seen as having much substance.
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