Davidson v. Davidson

Opinion

FLEMING, J.

Pending action for divorce. In December 1968, on an order to show cause, the trial court ordered defendant husband to pay plaintiff wife pendente lite $2,360 per month for her support, $500 per month for support of their five-year-old daughter, $15,000 for costs of suit, and $30,000 for attorneys’ fees. The husband appeals the order as to attorneys’ fees and child support, contending these amounts are excessive and represent an abuse of discretion.

[53]

The parties married each other for the second time in April 1966, having first married in March 1963 and been divorced in June 1964. The husband has a net worth of several million dollars and in 1967 had an income of $350,000. He is self-employed, controls several enterprises, and engages in complex financial transactions. The wife has separate property worth $50,000, and she claims part of her husband’s assets as community property.

Where a large amount of property is involved in the action the legal services necessarily required will usually justify a substantial pendente lite award of attorneys’ fees.

(Dietrich

v.

Dietrich,

41 Cal.2d 497, 506 [261 P.2d 269];

Warner

v.

Warner,

34 Cal.2d 838, 842 [215 P.2d 20];

Avnet

v.

Bank of America,

232 Cal.App.2d 191, 202 [42 Cal.Rptr. 616].) However, four factors make the present case unusual. First, the parties had been married only a short time, and any community property would date only from April 1966, a feature which greatly simplifies the determination of the separate and community status of the parties’ assets. Second, the husband demonstrated his willingness to disclose his financial holdings to his wife and made available to her relevant financial data at the order to show cause. Third, during the present marriage the wife filed a prior action for divorce in July 1967 and in connection with that action received $15,000 for attorneys’ fees pendente lite. She dismissed that action in July 1968, less than three months before she filed the present action in October 1968. Presumably, the wife received the benefit of substantial legal services for the $15,000, which services should have included an accurate evaluation of her community property claims against her husband.