Request for Order change of attorney fees and costs, modification and termination of prior fee order and request for sanction 271 sanctions
1 SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA 2 COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO 3 UNIFIED FAMILY COURT 4
5) 6 CATHERINE ANNE COOKE CAMERON,) Case Number: FDI-24-800519) 7 Petitioner) Hearing Date: May 5, 2026) 8 VS.) Hearing Time: 9:00 AM) 9 DELROY HUBORN LUGARD CAMERON,) Department: 404) 10 Respondent) Presiding: AI MORI) 11) 12 REQUEST FOR ORDER CHANGE OF ATTORNEY FEES AND COSTS, MODIFICATION AND 13 TERMINATION OF PRIOR FEE ORDER AND REQUEST FOR SANCTION 271 SANCTIONS 14 TENTATIVE RULING 15 Having read and considered the pleadings, declarations, and other evidence submitted in this matter, the 16 Court makes the following findings and orders: 17 A.
Procedural History 18 1) Petitioner Catherine Cameron (Wife) and Respondent Delroy Cameron (Husband) married on 19 3/17/2017. The parties agree they separated in 2024 (but disagree regarding the exact date), for a 20 marriage of at least 7 years. The parties have no minor children in common. However, Husband is 21 the father of a child named Max who was born on 5/17/2025 via surrogate. Wife states she was 22 not involved with the surrogacy arrangement and she is not a legal parent of Max. Wife is 23 represented by attorney Charles Young.
Husband is self-represented. 24 2) On 12/11/2024, a Stipulation Regarding Vicente Street Apartment and Order Thereon was 25 entered giving Wife exclusive occupancy of an apartment located on Vicente Street and requiring 26 Husband to pay the rent and related bills for the apartment. 27 3) On for hearing is Husband’s Request for Order filed 3/12/2026. Husband states he agreed to pay 28 Wife’s attorney’s fees on a needs-basis, but the case has been pending for 16 months with little 29 progress toward a final judgment.
Husband states he pays $2,500 per month for childcare for his
1 son which hinders his ability to pay Wife’s attorney’s fees. Husband also states Wife served her 2 Preliminary Declaration of Disclosure 125 days after the Petition was filed, but has yet to file a 3 Declaration Regarding Service of Preliminary Declaration of Disclosure (FL-141). Husband also 4 states Wife’s former attorney Nancy Rubin and Wife’s current attorney have caused delays, acted 5 in bad faith, and taken unreasonable settlement positions including requesting that Husband be 6 100% responsible for community debts.
Husband also states Wife has refused his requests to go 7 to mediation or to set a Mandatory Settlement Conference. Husband filed numerous declarations 8 on 3/20/2026, 3/24/2026, and 4/7/2026 providing additional exhibits and information to the 9 Court. Husband asks the Court to: 10 a. Terminate “the order for [Husband] to pay [Wife]’s ongoing attorney fees” effective 11 immediately; 12 b. Deem all fees paid or due to be paid to Wife’s prior attorney Nancy Rubin ($15,000) an 13 “advance” against Petitioner’s share of community property; 14 c.
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Impose sanctions under Family Code section 271 in the amount of $31,550 to be 15 deducted from Petitioner’s final settlement; and 16 d. Cap attorney’s fees awardable to Wife at $20,000. 17 4) On 3/20/2026, Husband filed an Income and Expense Declaration. See summary of Husband’s 18 Amended Income and Expense Declaration filed 4/29/2026 below. 19 5) On 4/22/2026, Wife filed a Responsive Declaration. Wife states she has serious health issues and 20 is permanently disabled. Wife notes Husband’s end of year paycheck for 2024 showed he earned 21 a total of $307,620 in gross wages plus an additional $150,000 in RSU income for total income of 22 $456,440.
Wife notes her prior attorney was facing health issues and her current attorney was 23 working through a trial, which may have caused some delays, and denies that she has been 24 litigating in bad faith. Wife asks the Court to: 25 a. Deny Husband’s request to modify or terminate the prior fee order; 26 b. Deny Husband’s request for Family Code section 271 attorney’s fees and sanctions in the 27 amount of $31,550; 28 c. Award Wife $50,000 in Family Code Section 2030 fees, paid in a lump sum or monthly 29 at $10,000 per month; and
1 d. Order Husband to pay guideline temporary spousal support with a Smith/Ostler table for 2 additional income, retroactive to the filing of Husband’s Request for Order; and 3 e. Make any other orders the Court deems just and reasonable. 4 6) The Court notes there is currently no Court order requiring Husband to pay Wife’s attorney’s 5 fees. Wife also states in her Responsive Declaration that she has “no idea what Delroy refers to 6 when he asks the Court to terminate a Family Code section 2030 award.” 7 7) On 4/22/2026, Wife filed an Income and Expense Declaration.
Wife states she was last employed 8 as a Special Day Class Teacher but her employment ended on June 2010. Wife states she receives 9 Social Security income of $1,036 per month. Wife states she has $18,547 in cash savings in a 10 joint account held with Husband. Wife also has $2,049 in separate property cash savings. Wife 11 states she has $0 in easily saleable investments. She states she has $4,500 in personal property. 12 Wife states that her actual expenses total $9,287 per month, and that $4,747 of this is paid using 13 contributions by Husband.
Wife states she owes $14,332 in credit card expenses and owes 14 $32,000 to her mother for legal fees. Wife states she has paid her attorney $16,095 to date (and 15 paid $15,435 to her prior counsel) using a loan from her mother. Wife also states that she owes 16 her attorney “$7,635+.” 17 8) On 4/22/2026, Wife filed a Memorandum of Points and Authorities citing Family Code sections 18 271 and 2030. 19 9) On 4/22/2026, Wife’s attorney Charles Young filed a declaration. Mr. Young states Wife has 20 incurred and paid fees in the amount of $17,870 with Mr.
Young’s firm and Wife’s work in 21 progress for April is $8,520 as of 4/20/2026. Mr. Young anticipates Wife will incur an additional 22 $5,000 through the hearing in this matter. Mr. Young also anticipates Wife will incur an 23 additional $75,0000 to finalize her divorce due to the combative nature of Husband, to hire a 24 forensic accountant to conduct a Marital Standard of Living analysis, to prepare a Hugh / Nelson 25 analysis, and to prepare QDROs. 26 10) On 4/28/2026, Wife filed a Statement of Support Calculations contending Husband should be 27 paying to Wife $5,803 per month in temporary guideline spousal support. 28 11) On 4/28/2026, Husband filed a Reply Declaration.
Husband states the community has $91,000 in 29 liquid assets but the community also owes $11,000 in debt. Husband states that a $50,000 fee
1 award will render him insolvent for at least 60 days. Husband also states his net take home is 2 $10,000 per month and so he cannot pay a $50,000 fee award in installments of $10,000. 3 Husband states his “next RSU inflow is not for six months.” Husband states he has “already paid 4 Petitioner her share of post-separation RSUs, on par with a 15% Smith/Ostler percentage – except 5 the April 2026 RSUs, which is pending disbursement. Respondent expects the total outstanding 6 amount due to be around $15,000 due mostly to depletion of the original $25,00 deposited in the 7 joint account in October 2025.”
Husband states he is currently paying $4,750 per month for 8 Wife’s living expenses which represents 45% of his monthly net disposable income. Husband 9 states he is voluntarily reducing his sanction request to $15,500 “which represents the amount in 10 debt servicing I will have unliterally contributed while Petitioner refuses to take accountability 11 for her half of the $64,000 in community debt.” Husband asks the Court for an early distribution 12 of a portion of the retirement account which he wants to use to extinguish $64,000 in joint credit 13 card debt and a Mandatory Settlement Conference for end of June. 14 12) On 4/29/2026, Husband filed an Amended Income and Expense Declaration.
Husband states he is 15 46 years old and he has worked as a software engineer for Apple since 2016 (since before the 16 parties married). Husband states he earns on average $18,000 per month in salary and an 17 additional $1,500 per month in bonuses. Husband also states he earns on average $15,309 from 18 RSUs. Husband states he has $15,874 in cash savings, $67,536 in easily saleable investments, and 19 $106,428 in real property. Husband states his monthly expenses total $15,743, including the rent 20 paid for Wife’s apartment.
Husband states he owes $74,938 in credit card debt and an additional 21 $46,870 to the IRS. Husband states he has paid $0 in attorney’s fees to date. 22 13) On 4/30/2026, Wife filed an Amended Statement of Support Calculations contending Husband 23 should be paying to Wife $5,413 per month in temporary guideline spousal support. 24 B. Findings and Order 25 1) Spousal Support 26 a. The Court notes that Wife’s request for temporary spousal support orders exceed the 27 scope of Husband’s Request for Order filed 3/12/2026.
However, the Court notes that 28 Husband has not objected to Wife’s request for temporary spousal support on this basis 29 and he substantively responded to Wife’s request for temporary spousal support orders in
1 his Reply Declaration. On this basis and in the interest of judicial economy, the Court 2 will address Wife’s request for spousal support orders below. 3 b. According to the XSpouse calculation attached hereto and incorporated herein, the Court 4 finds base guideline spousal support payable by Husband to Wife would be $4,318 per 5 month. 6 c. In her 4/22/2026 Income and Expense Declaration, Wife states Husband is currently 7 paying the following monthly expenses on her behalf: rent ($3,480), utilities ($597.33), 8 cellphone and Internet service ($220.64), laundry and cleaning ($200), auto expense 9 ($193.33), and Amazon ($56.37).
This amounts to $4,747.67 per month, which is the 10 same amount that Husband reports he has been paying on Wife’s behalf per month. 11 d. The Court notes that Husband appears to be paying for expenses on Wife’s behalf that 12 exceed the requirements of the Stipulation and Order filed 12/11/2024. If Husband just 13 paid the expenses set forth in the Stipulation and Order filed 12/11/2024, it would 14 essentially equal the monthly temporary guideline spousal support figure. On this basis, 15 the Court does not find good cause to modify the current Stipulation and Order filed 16 12/11/2024. 17 e.
However, the Court does find good cause to make a Smith / Ostler spousal support award 18 given that Husband reports earning bonuses and RSU income and there is currently no 19 Smith / Ostler support order in effect. Effective 5/5/2026, Husband shall pay to Wife 20 Smith / Ostler spousal support in accordance with the Annual Bonus Wages report 21 attached hereto within 10 days of receiving a bonus, separate property RSU income, or 22 other income above his base salary of $18,000 per month. Husband shall provide to Wife 23 documentation (e.g., paystub) showing the additional income received simultaneously 24 with making payment. 25 f.
The Court’s jurisdiction to later make a determination regarding what Husband owes to 26 Wife for income generated from community property RSU is reserved. 27 2) Attorney’s Fees and Costs 28 e. Regarding Wife’s request for attorney’s fees and costs, the Court notes that if Husband 29 were paying for just Wife’s rent and utilities, he would have 60% of the parties’
1 combined net spendable base income and Wife would have 40% of the parties’ combined 2 net spendable base income. The Court also notes that although the parties report having 3 significant assets, they are also heavily in debt. The Court further notes that Husband is 4 paying $2,500 per month towards his son’s childcare expenses. Husband states he has 5 contributed $15,000 towards Wife’s attorney’s fees to date. The Court does not find that 6 the issues in this case are very complex. The Court hereby awards to Wife an additional 7 $25,000 in attorney’s fees and costs, which the Court finds is a just, reasonable, and 8 necessary amount.
This amount, in addition to the $15,000 Husband has already paid for 9 Wife’s attorney’s fees and costs, is being awarded to cover fees and costs incurred by 10 Wife through entry of final Judgment if the parties are able to reach a global settlement in 11 their case. If a long-cause hearing is set in this matter, this Court’s jurisdiction to 12 augment this fee award is reserved. Husband shall pay this amount to Wife from his 13 separate property investment and cash holdings. Commencing 5/15/2026, Husband shall 14 pay this amount to Wife in four installments of $6,750, to be paid by the 15 th of each 15 month. 16 f.
Husband’s request that the Court cap total fees awardable to Wife in this case at $20,000 17 is denied. 18 g. Husband’s request that the Court deem all fees paid to Wife’s prior attorney as an 19 “advance” against Wife’s share of the community property is denied. 20 h. Husband’s request for attorney’s fees sanctions is denied. 21 3) Other Orders 22 e. Wife shall file a Declaration Regarding Service of Preliminary Declaration of Disclosure 23 (FL-141) no later than 5/15/2026. 24 f. The Court’s jurisdiction to reimburse to Husband for any portion of payments and 25 contributions he has paid to service community debts since the date of separation is 26 reserved for trial / final Judgment. 27 g.
Husband’s request for an early distribution of the community retirement funds to 28 extinguish joint credit card debt is denied as the Court is unable to divide community 29 property prior to trial absent exigent circumstances.
1 h. Regarding Husband’s request that the Court set a Mandatory Settlement conference for 2 end of June, Husband is welcome to file an At Issue Memorandum which will lead to the 3 setting of a Mandatory Settlement Conference. 4 4) The Court will prepare the Findings and Order After Hearing. 5
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