Wife Failed To Take Advantage Of Protections Afforded To Parties Suffering Mental Health Issues And She Suffered No Prejudice When Trial Court Failed To Make Express Findings Because It Considered And Addressed The Same Statutory Factors In Determining Spousal Support.
Under California Rules of Court, Rule 1.100, parties can seek accommodations from the trial court, pursuant to the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) (42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq.), or other applicable state and federal laws. Alternatively, a party can participate in the litigation through a guardian ad litem. (Code Civ. Proc., § 372 et seq.)
Husband made such a request for wife in Marriage of Taylor, Case No. H045227 (6th Dist. October 30, 2020) (unpublished), requesting appointment of a guardian ad litem due to concerns about wife’s ability to participate in proceedings based on her claimed mental health issues. However, husband dismissed request when wife opposed and stipulated to an independent evaluation along with the release of certain medical records. This came back to bite him, in the form of delays and substantial, unnecessary attorney’s fees and costs, when wife failed to execute documents related to the parties’ agreement regarding the division of certain marital assets, began raising issues previously resolved, and requested a continuance of the final status conference – claiming her PTSD was causing her great difficulty in reviewing and comprehending documents, and completing tasks.
When wife’s conduct prompted husband to seek Family Code § 271 sanctions against her, the trial court awarded him $75,000 – finding billing statements submitted by husband to be reasonable, and commenting that “[t]hat doesn’t nearly being to make [husband] whole, but I think it is a fair and appropriate ruling given the totality of the circumstances here.” Additionally, the trial court denied wife’s request for needs-based section 2030 attorney’s fees without making express findings supporting the denial.
On appeal, wife argued that the trial court abused its discretion in determining that she engaged in sanctionable conduct because her conduct was the result of her mental health condition and was not intentional. However, the Sixth District disagreed – finding that sanctions are based on a party’s conduct that frustrates the policy of the law to promote settlement of litigation and reduction of litigation costs, not the party’s intent, and substantial evidence supported the sanctions. Additionally, wife had the opportunity to take advantage of protections afforded to parties suffering mental health conditions, but failed to timely do so.
As to wife’s needs-based fees request, the appellate panel found the trial court erred in not making the requisite express findings for its denial, but that the trial court’s error was not prejudicial to wife. Immediately preceding its consideration of wife’s section 2030 request, the trial court addressed each statutory factor it was required to consider and weigh in ordering long-term spousal support – the same factors considered when determining whether to award section 2030 fees – and determined wife had significant liquid or investable assets, and that the parties had relatively equal financial circumstances.