Partition: Trial Judge’s Award Of Apportioned Fees To A Feuding Couple Is Sustained On Appeal

Husband’s Challenges To Wife’s Fee Recovery Was Rebuffed By Appellate Court.

            A couple in a partition action, with the lower court describing their relationship as “toxic” and “two scorpions in a bottle” (words in the opinion, not ours), ultimately achieved some fee recovery based on common benefit in a contested partition action, with husband awarded $16,750 and wife awarded $19,800.  Husband still appealed in Nielson v. Courtney, Case No. B324058 (2d Dist., Div. 6 May 18, 2023) (unpublished), challenging the fee award to wife.  He was unsuccessful on appeal.  Based on the facts, he presented no reason to deviate from the trial judge’s conclusion, with the appellate court declining husband’s invitation to reweigh the evidence.