Kabir Singh Sikand v. Preeti Hooda Sikand

1 SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA 2 COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO 3 UNIFIED FAMILY COURT 4

5) 6 KABIR SINGH SIKAND,) Case Number: FDI-23-798647) 7 Petitioner) Hearing Date: August 27, 2026) 8 VS.) Hearing Time: 9:00 AM) 9 PREETI HOODA SIKAND,) Department: 404) 10 Respondent) Presiding: AI MORI) 11) 12 OTHER REVIEW HEARING 13 TENTATIVE RULING 14 Having read and considered the pleadings, declarations, and other evidence submitted in this matter, the 15 Court makes the following findings and orders: 16 A. Procedural History 17 1) Petitioner Kabir Sikand (Father) and Respondent Preeti Sikand (Mother) married on 11/28/2007. 18 The parties disagree regarding their date of separation.

Father contends the parties separated on 19 11/24/2020, for a marriage of 13 years. Mother contends the parties separated on 9/21/2023, for a 20 marriage of 15 years and 10 months. The parties have one minor child, Kai (DOB: 11/4/2014, age 21 11). Father is represented by attorney Ana Cazeneuve of DeLacey, Riebel & Shindell LLP. 22 Mother is represented by attorney Jonathan Larose. 23 2) In 2024, both parties filed Requests for Domestic Violence Restraining Order against the other 24 party. However, per the Stipulation and Order filed 6/14/2024, the parties agreed to dismiss their 25 Requests for DVRO without prejudice. 26 3) At the prior 3/4/2025 hearing (per the Findings and Order After Hearing filed 4/4/2025), the 27 Court ordered both parties to spend 20 hours per week seeking work, to apply to 10 jobs per 28 week, and to maintain and serve monthly logs documenting seek work efforts. 29

1 4) On 1/23/2026, Mother filed a Request for Order seeking guideline child and temporary spousal 2 support retroactive to the date she filed her Request for Order, as well as an order requiring that 3 all child support add-ons be shared in accordance with Family Code section 4061. Mother further

4 asked the Court to delay any imputation of income to her until August 2026 because she is

5 currently taking classes at City College in San Francisco to update her photography skills. Mother 6 stated she is 48 years old and was a homemaker during the parties’ marriage. Mother states she 7 has a BFA in New Media and an MFA in photography and she currently works as a blog editor, 8 technical consultant, and website designer for a school in India (for which she is paid $1,000 per

9 month for 25 hours of work per week). Mother states she has been looking for work, including as

10 a barista, but has been unsuccessful. Mother states she has borrowed $230,000 from family to pay 11 expenses, including paying $170,000 in attorney’s fees. Mother states she currently receives food 12 stamps. Mother states Father is a successful technology professional earning $240,000 annually 13 who is in sole possession of the parties’ three-story, seven room Queen Anne house in Hayes

14 Valley with a separate in-law apartment that the parties used to rent out to tenants.

15 5) On 1/20/2026, Mother filed an Income and Expense Declaration. Mother states her income is 16 $1,000 per month. Mother states her monthly expenses total $7,880. Mother states she has $7,221 17 in cash savings and her other assets are “TBD”. Mother states she owes $21,629 for a car, $3,598 18 for credit card debt, and $165,000 for a loan from family and friends. Mother also states their son

19 spends 25% of his time with Mother.

20 6) On 2/4/2026 and 2/5/2026, a long-cause hearing was held. Per the Order After Hearing filed 21 2/6/2026, Judge Mori made final custody orders, awarding Father sole physical custody of Kai 22 and awarding joint legal custody of Kai with Father having final tiebreaker decision-making. The 23 order also adopted their parenting coordinator’s recommendation for Kai to be in Mother’s care

24 every other weekend on Friday at school pick up and drop off on Sunday at 7:30 PM or through

25 Monday at 7:30 PM if there is no school on that Monday, and one day per week on Mondays, and 26 the parties to alternate holidays and school breaks (including week on / week off during summer). 27 7) On 4/10/2026, Father filed a Responsive Declaration. Father states he consents to guideline child 28 support but does not consent to pay spousal support. Father states he was previously ordered to

29 pay child and spousal support to Mother (see Findings and Order After Hearing filed 5/23/2024).

1 However, at the hearing on 3/4/2025 (Findings and Order After Hearing filed 4/4/2025), the 2 parties agreed to set support at $0 due to Father’s job loss and the Court ordered both parties to 3 abide by the attached Seek Work Orders. Father states Mother has never provided her compliance

4 with the Seek Work Orders. Father states Mother holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications

5 in addition to her other stated degrees. Father states the school for which Mother currently works 6 as a blog editor, technical consultant, and website designer is owned by Mother’s family, and that 7 Mother previously informed Father that this position was a three-month temporary position. 8 Father states Mother has chosen to work part-time at below-market wages and takes voluntary

9 photography coursework one afternoon per week. Father notes Mother has not provided any proof

10 of enrollment, duration, or how the coursework will add to her existing credentials. Father 11 contends that had Mother complied with the Seek Work Orders issued 13 months ago, she likely 12 would have already secured full-time work at well above minimum wage. Father contends 13 Mother could be earning $90,000 per year, or $7,500 per month, and asks the Court to impute this

14 amount to Mother. Father states he began working for HubSpot in December 2025 after one year

15 of unemployment (during which Father states he incurred significant debt). Father states he has 16 made good faith settlement efforts regarding a support amount for Mother. 17 8) On 4/10/2026, Father filed a Memorandum of Points and Authorities. 18 9) On 4/10/2026, Father filed an Income and Expense Declaration. Father agrees that Kai is in

19 Mother’s care 25% of the time.

20 10) On 4/16/2026, Mother filed a Reply Declaration. Mother states she is taking Advanced Photoshop 21 and Business Practices in Photography classes that require more than 30+ hours of weekly course 22 work and is walking dogs up to 10 hours weekly earning $500 per month. Mother states she never 23 studied Communications and does not have a degree in it. Mother notes that Father only offers

24 her weekday visitation times, which impacts her ability to work on weekdays.

25 11) On 4/16/2026, Mother filed an additional Income and Expense Declaration. Mother states her 26 position at the school in India “ended.” 27 12) On 4/16/2026, Mother filed a Statement of Support Calculations. 28 13) At the prior 4/23/2026 hearing (per the Amended Findings and Order After Hearing filed

29 6/26/2026), the Court made the following orders.

1 a. The Court finds good cause to impute Mother with 25 hours per week of minimum wage 2 income. This amounts to (($19.81 x 25) x 52) / 12 = $2,146 per month. This order is 3 made without prejudice to the Court’s ability to impute additional income to Mother at

4 the upcoming trial.

5 b. Mother shall continue to comply with the existing Seek Work Order. The Court’s 6 jurisdiction to modify child and spousal support retroactive to the date she secures a 7 position of paid employment where she is earning more than $2,146 per month is 8 reserved.

9 c. Effective 1/23/2026, in accordance with the XSpouse calculation, Father shall pay to

10 Mother $472 per month in guideline base child support and $3,427 per month in 11 temporary guideline base spousal support, for total support due and owing of $3,898 per 12 month. 13 d. Effective 1/23/2026, in addition to base child and temporary spousal support, Father shall

14 pay as additional Smith / Ostler child and temporary spousal support a portion of any and

15 all additional gross income (e.g., bonuses and vested RSUs) received in excess of his 16 base salary of $20,000 per month, pursuant to the Bonus Table attached hereto and 17 incorporated herein. Smith / Ostler child and spousal support shall be paid to Mother 18 within 10 days of Father receiving the additional income and he shall provide to Mother

19 at the same time as payment documentary evidence showing the amount of additional

20 income received by Father. 21 e. Effective 1/23/2026, the parties shall share 65 (Father) / 35 (Mother) the following child 22 support add-on expenses: 23 i. All childcare costs incurred for employment as defined in Family Code section

24 4062(a)(1);

25 ii. All reasonable uninsured healthcare costs for Kai; 26 iii. All travel expenses incurred by Mother to take Kai to Tahoe for snowboarding 27 team during snowboarding team season. The reimbursable expenses are: mileage 28 for Mother from her home in Danville to Tahoe and back to Tahoe and the cost

29 of lodging in the Tahoe area. Reimbursement costs do not include meals.

1 f. A review hearing was set for 8/27/2026 to review child and spousal support, review 2 Mother’s compliance with the Seek Work Order, and consider imputing full-time income 3 to Mother.

4 14) On 8/17/2026, Father filed an Update Declaration, a Statement of Support Calculations, and an

5 Income and Expense Declaration. Father states that, to date, he has never received Mother’s seek 6 work logs. Father asks the Court to: 7 a. Clarify that, for purposes of the Smith/Ostler order, RSU income is received on the first 8 trading day on which the vested shares are both (a) deposited and settled in my brokerage

9 account and (b) saleable by Father under HubSpot's insider trading policy, and that the

10 additional gross income is calculated using the closing price of HubSpot stock on that 11 date multiplied by the gross number of shares vesting. Father requests that the 10-day 12 payment period run from that date, and that this mechanism apply to all future vesting 13 events.

14 b. Order Mother to pay Father existing child support add-ons in the amount of $695.91, to

15 be deducted from my next support payment due on 9/1/2026 16 c. Impute Mother with monthly income of $7,500 per month for purposes of determining 17 temporary spousal and child support. Father states that this is a below market salary for 18 photographers in San Francisco.

19 d. Modify combined child and temporary spousal support to $2,160

20 15) On 8/17/2026, Father filed a Statement of Support Calculations. 21 16) On 8/17/2026, Father filed an Income and Expense Declaration. Father states that he is 49 years 22 old and works as a Director of Business Development for Hubspot, Inc. Father states that he earns 23 $20,800 per month. Father states that he has $1,835 in cash savings and $2.3 million in real and

24 personal property. Father estimates that his monthly expenses total $22,212. Father states that he

25 owes $24,441 for a Tesla auto loan, owes $43,914 in credit card debt, and $480,000 to his parents 26 for a loan. 27 17) On 8/19/2026, a 3-afternoon long-cause hearing on the issue of date of separation concluded. The 28 matter is currently under submission.

1 18) On 8/25/2026, Mother filed a Reply Declaration. Mother states that she was a stay-at-home wife 2 and mother when the parties married and she did not have an extensive job history and 3 marketable skills when she married Father and through the entirety of the parties’ marriage.

4 Mother states that during their marriage she had a handful of short term freelance jobs. Mother

5 states that she was recently enrolled in two classes at City College which required 25-30 hours of 6 weekly work and she is currently enrolling in two other courses at City College which start next 7 week, an Environmental Portraiture (which Mother states would help her land more editorial 8 types of work) and a Lighting class. Mother attached as Exhibit A copies of her search work logs.

9 Mother states she thought her search work logs only needed to be made available to the Court.

10 Mother states, “neither the Petitioner nor his counsel have the personal knowledge and or 11 expertise to state with any type of certainty, what someone with my skills, employment history, 12 and education, could make in the work force. They are not experts in this area, and imputing me 13 income of $90,000.00 is based on no admissible data points, and the Petitioner’s request to do so

14 should be denied.” Mother requests the Court:

15 a. Reserve any reimbursement of “child support add on” for the trial on their financial 16 issues “as we both have existing reimbursement requests, that continually change” 17 b. Father to pay Mother $550 per month for travel expenses for visitation (including gas and 18 toll charges)

19 c. Modify child and temporary spousal support to include 20 hours of minimum wage

20 income ($16.90 per hour) plus an additional $800 per month for the dog walking work 21 Mother is currently doing 22 19) On 8/25/2026, Mother filed an Income and Expense Declaration. Mother states that she is 48 23 years old, has a BFA in New Media, and an MFA in Photography. Mother was last employed in

24 Website Design and as a Blog Editing Consultant for Vega Schools in India between 7/1/2025

25 and 7/31/2025. For that job, she worked 25 hours per week and earned $1,000 per month. Mother 26 states that she earns $700 – 900 per month walking dogs. Mother states she has $30,000 in cash 27 savings and $1.1 million in community property real estate equity. Mother states that her monthly 28 expenses total $9,162. Mother states she owes $18,000 for a car loan, owes $16,426 in credit card

29 debt, and owes $288,000 for a loan from family and friends.

1 20) On 8/25/2026, Father filed a Motion to Strike Mother’s declaration. Father states, “The Findings 2 and Order After Hearing filed on June 26, 2026, following the April 23, 2026 hearing ordered 3 that ‘[a]t least 10 calendar days prior to the next hearing date, both parties shall file and serve

4 updated Income and Expense Declarations, Statements of Support Calculations, and update

5 declarations.’...Petitioner timely filed and served his updated documents on August 17, 2026. 6 Respondent served hers eight (8) days after the court ordered deadline, under a ‘reply’ label that 7 no order or rule authorizes for this hearing. As a result of the late service, Petitioner has not had 8 time to review and analyze Respondent's income and expense information and support

9 calculations, or to prepare any written response to the factual assertions in her declaration, before

10 the hearing.” 11 21) The Court notes the following future hearing dates: 12 a. 10/19/2026 – Trial setting before Judge Chan 13 b. 11/2/2026 – Judicial Settlement Conference before Judge Luna

14 B. Findings and Order

15 1) Father’s request to strike Mother’s pleadings filed 8/25/2026 is denied. 16 2) Father’s request that the Court impute Mother with $7,500 per month in income is denied. The 17 Court does not find that Father has met his burden to prove that Mother has the ability or 18 opportunity to earn that level of income. This finding and order is without prejudice to Father’s

19 ability to provide further evidence regarding this claim when long-term spousal support is

20 adjudicated. 21 3) Given the evidence currently before the Court, the Court is only able to find that Mother has the 22 ability and opportunity to earn fulltime minimum wage income. However, Father’s income has 23 also increased by $800 per month. If the support calculation were adjusted to account for these

24 changes in the parties’ incomes, support would only be minimally impacted. On this basis, the

25 Court declines to modify child and temporary spousal support at this time. 26 4) Father’s request that the Smith / Ostler order be clarified as follows is granted. For purposes of 27 the Smith/Ostler order, RSU income is received on the first trading day on which the vested 28 shares are both (a) deposited and settled in my brokerage account and (b) saleable by Father

29 under HubSpot's insider trading policy, and that the additional gross income is calculated using

1 the closing price of HubSpot stock on that date multiplied by the gross number of shares vesting. 2 The 10-day payment period shall run from that date, and this mechanism shall apply to all future 3 vesting events.

4 5) The following requests are denied without prejudice to a properly noticed request as they are

5 beyond the scope of the 8/27/2026 hearing. The parties shall meet and confer on these issues. If 6 the parties are unable to reach an agreement, either party may file and serve a new Request for 7 Order. 8 a. Father’s request that Mother pay him child support add-ons in the amount of $695.91.

9 b. Mother’s request that Father pay her $550 per month for travel expenses for visitation

10 (including gas and toll charges). 11 6) The Court will prepare the Findings and Order After Hearing. 12

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