Family Law: $50,000 § 271 Sanctions Order Against Wife And Denial Of Her § 271 Sanctions Request Against Husband Both Reversed On Appeal

Section 271 Sanctions Order Against Her Not Tethered To Expenses, And Her Denied Sanctions Request Was Properly Raised Through A Responsive Declaration To A Different Motion Not Seeking Sanctions.

               In Marriage of Kapila and Deshmukh, Case No. A170589 (1^st Dist., Div. 5 June 3, 2025) (unpublished), wife was hit with a $50,000 sanctions award under Family Code section 271, and her request for section 271 sanctions was denied.  On appeal, wife obtained a reversal and remand of both orders.  As to the sanctions order against her, the $50,000 in sanctions was not properly tethered to incurred attorney’s fees and costs for the targeted conduct.  (Menezes v. McDaniel, 44 Cal.App.5^th 349, 352 (2019).)  When it came to the denial of wife’s sanction request, husband conceded that it was incorrectly denied by being raised in a responsive declaration relating to a different motion (In re Marriage of Perow & Uzelac, 31 Cal.App.5^th 984, 992 (2019)), and the appellate panel could not say that husband’s failure to reveal a new job for child support purposes could not form the basis for sanctions—although expressing no opinion on if it did when remanding for a revisit.