Marriage of Scott CA2/8

Filed 1/15/16 Marriage of Scott CA2/8 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION EIGHT

In re Marriage of BYRON and ANITA G. B263480 SCOTT. (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BD606908)

BYRON SCOTT,

Respondent,

v.

ANITA G. SCOTT,

Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Holly J. Fujie, Judge. Affirmed in part; reversed in part. Trope and Trope, Thomas Paine Dunlap and James A. Durant for Appellant. Law Office of Caryn H. Nguyen, Caryn Hong Thuy Nguyen; Law Offices of Kristen Martin and Kristen Martin for Respondent.

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In this marriage dissolution action, Anita G. Scott (Anita)1 appeals an order of temporary spousal support and attorney fees, contending the support award improperly required her to deplete her portion of a community property asset, and the fee award purportedly prejudged the reasonableness of future fee requests. We reverse the portion of the order awarding temporary spousal support but affirm the award of attorney fees. BACKGROUND Anita and Byron Scott (Byron) were married on February 8, 1985, and separated either June 1, 2013 (according to Byron), or April 15, 2014 (according to Anita). Byron is the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers NBA (National Basketball Association) team and his current income from that position is an average of $312,500 per month. He also receives $26,661.86 biweekly from his former position as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA team, which the parties agree is community property. Anita filed a request for order (RFO) on December 31, 2014, seeking temporary spousal support, attorney fees, forensic accountant fees, and an accounting for the funds Byron received from the Cleveland Cavaliers. To support her spousal support request, Anita estimated her monthly expenses at $35,095, not including certain unknown expenses. She acknowledged Byron provided her $12,000 a month for personal expenses, but she contended that did not include her use of high-limit credit cards, expenses paid directly by Byron, or expenses for housing, household items, travel, medical costs, groceries, and home furnishings and décor. She also requested the court to order Byron to pay her one-half of the Cleveland Cavaliers income. For the attorney fee request, Anita sought $100,000 in addition to $25,000 Byron had already paid, and $20,000 for forensic accounting fees. In response, Byron recognized the marital estate was worth $6 million to $7 million, and he was willing to stipulate he had the ability to pay reasonable spousal support and reasonable attorney fees. He claimed Anita exaggerated their marital lifestyle and she lived “comfortably” on $12,000 per month for personal expenses.