Legal Fees – Kim Kardasian demands Kris pay her legal fees, what does the law provide?

As the Kim and Kris divorce saga continues to outlast the actual “marriage” that they continue to fight about. Kim on one side wants to have her divorce settled and terminated as a divorce, whereas Kris is seeking to have it annulled claiming that Kim married him for fraudulent purposes relating to her various tv shows and her marketing goals.

As such the parties continue to hit roadblocks as Kris seems unwilling to agree to Kim’s requested divorce and Kim is unwilling to concede to committing fraud in inducing Kris to marry her.

As another new twist Kim is now allegedly demanding that Kris pay her legal fees as she claims he has forced the case to be drawn out unreasonably long. Absent an agreement by the parties the court can award attorney’s fees in a Family Law case for a few reasons as explained below.

The general rule in the family code that provides the court the ability to order legal fees, attorney fees, under the premise that each party has access to legal representation is codified in Family Code section 2030. Family Code section 2030 provides that the court can order one party in a family law matter to pay the other party’s attorney fees. When the issue of attorney fees is brought before the court the court must go through a two-prong analysis prior to granting or denying a request for attorney’s fees. The first step is to analyze whether there is a disparity of income between the parties that the party seeking attorney’s fees has a need for an attorney fee order be awarded. The second step is to analyze whether the party who could be ordered to pay the attorney’s fees has the actual ability to pay/contribute to the requesting party’s attorney’s fees. In a simplified form the easiest way to understand and remember Family Code section 2030 is “need” and “ability to pay”.

Additionally for the court to order attorney’s fees under section 2030 it must also go through an analysis as provided in Family Code section 4320 which provides a long list of factors to provide the court with further understanding of the party’s financial situations and relationship. An analysis of this will be provided in another blog to provide detailed information and assistance. The content of Family Code section 4320 can be found here.

Reasonably under section 2030 it would be difficult for Kim to assert that she has a “need” for Kris to contribute to her attorney’s fees due to her considerable assets, brands, and income as is believed by the public. However, if she has considerably less income as is perceived by the public she could have a shot at a request for her attorney’s fees to be ordered by the court.

Additionally under Family Code section 271, there is another avenue that she could take advantage of in requesting attorney’s fees. Due to the stories coming out in the media that Kim is claiming that she wants Kris to pay her attorney’s fees because he has made the case draw out as long as it has, I would presume attorney’s fees pursuant to section 271 would likely be her perceived legal grounds.

Under section 271 the court can award attorney’s fees and costs as a sanction if it finds that the conduct of a party or attorney “furthers or frustrates the policy of law to promote settlement of litigation…” In coming to a finding that the sanction should be ordered by the court the court shall take into consideration all evidence concerning the parties’, income, assets, and liabilities. In considering all financial aspects the court cannot impose a sanction that would impose an unreasonable financial burden on the party that would be ordered to pay the attorney’s fees. As a distinction from section 2030, under section 271 the requesting party is not required to demonstrate any financial need for the award.

In light of the statutory authority which Kim can avail herself of to seek attorney’s fees, section 2030 and section 271, her best argument would be pursuant to section 271. With that she will be required to prove that Kris has been frustrating settlement and drawing the litigation out unnecessarily long. However, with that in mind he cannot be “punished” merely for asserting a claim that she is contrary to, specifically his request for an annulment in lieu of dissolution (divorce).

With this there is always the potential for Kim and Kris to come to a settlement agreement which provides attorney’s fees that would, and could, not be ordered should the case be litigated in court.

Only time will tell as to the next legal twist and turn Kim and Kris will take us through while unraveling their 72-day marriage.

** This blog, and the individual posts on the blog, are for informational purposes only, do not provide a substitute for engaging legal counsel, and do not constitute legal advice or solicitation for legal services. Any legal advice should be tailored to specific clients and their specific needs. No attorney-client relationship is created by any use of this website. You should not rely on any information in this blog.**

New Supreme Court Case: What are the repercussions for not paying Child Support?

Recently a case, Turner v Rogers, came before the US Supreme Court where a Father who was no longer able to pay overdue child support in the amount of $6,000 was thrown in jail by the Court.  In the case the Father was able to establish that he was financially unable to afford the monthly child support, however the Court failed to take that into account when making it’s ruling to punish him with imprisonment.

The Supreme Court ruled that putting him in jail violated his constitutional rights because they failed to take into account whether or not he was financially able to make the payments.

Due to the current financial situation of the Country and the impact on numerous individuals it isn’t surprising that the high court is taking this stance.  The unfortunate reality is that many parents are currently suffering financially and are unable to meet their prior orders of the court regarding the support of their children.  While it is reasonable and understandable that parents should be held responsible for their obligation to support their children it is unrealistic and unreasonable to not take into account the parents financial situation such as a loss of a job due to the downturn in the economy.  Especially when it may lead to be labeled a “deadbeat” overnight and imprisoned due to the failure to pay child support which in all logic would only guarantee that the parent is unable to earn income due to their time in jail.

There are many experts that are optimistic that the Supreme Courts ruling will have a positive impact in the lower courts application and evaluation of “deadbeat” parents before forcing any jail time.

It is important if you are facing a case where you owe child support, whether you owe arrearages or are able to maintain your monthly payments, that you consult an attorney who knows the current law and is able to fully articulate your situation to the court in order to provide you the most beneficial outcome.

For a free consultation call (949) 478-3160.

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This blog, and the individual posts on the blog, are for informational purposes only, do not provide a substitute for engaging legal counsel, and do not constitute legal advice or solicitation for legal services.  Any legal advice should be tailored to specific clients and their specific needs.  No attorney-client relationship is created by any use of this website.  You should not rely on any information in this blog.

Information obtained from this Washington Post article.

What do I do if I think my Ex is hiding money?

If your Ex is hiding money and you are involved in litigation relating to child support, spousal support, or even a divorce this is a major issue that you need to resolve in order to exercise your rights.  Any failure by your Ex to completely disclose their income, savings, or assets can vastly affect the outcome of your case and the amount of child support, spousal support, or community property that is divided in your divorce.

This is crucial in child support matters because the amount of child support you receive generally is based on two simple and basic sets of number the percentage of time the child is with each parent and each parent’s relative income.  If you believe your spouse is getting paid under the table for side jobs or that their business is doing better than they claim you will need to prove it by way of the legal process.  If you are unable to do so either through witnesses that have personal knowledge of the earnings or documents that refute their assertion you are out of luck.

On the same note when it comes to a dissolution, if you believe your Ex is hiding money this could dramatically alter the amount of money or assets that you are able to walk away from the marriage with.

Due to the importance of this, it is important that you fully exercise your rights in court and use all methods available to you in order to uncover hidden money.  One common and generally helpful method is through the use of a Subpoena Duces Tecum (SDT).  A SDT is a method by which you can request that a third party, in this case the bank, provide documents relating to the other party and their accounts.  Through proper use of this power you can obtain bank records in the form of bank statements showing all incoming funds for as many years as you request.  Be mindful that when you request the bank statements to be reasonable in your request for the fact the bank will charge you for the records search as well as a copying fee per page, and if you are excessive with your request it could cost you financially.

In order to exercise this power and request documents from the court through the use of a SDT it is important that you use the proper court forms as well as time the service of all documents properly.  All necessary court forms can be found on the California Courts Self- Help website.  In order to properly serve the SDT you must also provide notice to the other party that you are seeking the disclosure of their bank records, to which they are afforded an opportunity to oppose the disclosure of their records.  However, if all goes according to plan you will receive a stack of bank statements for your Ex’s accounts and finally be able to see if they have been depositing more money than they have claimed, or are hiding money, and be able to provide that information to the court in order to correct the lies that they have been telling and affording you and your children the justice and financial assistance that you are legally entitled to.

In order to assess your legal options in view of the current and new law it is important that you talk with an attorney about your specific situation and your rights.  For a free consultation call (949) 478-3160.

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This blog, and the individual posts on the blog, are for informational purposes only, do not provide a substitute for engaging legal counsel, and do not constitute legal advice or solicitation for legal services.  Any legal advice should be tailored to specific clients and their specific needs.  No attorney-client relationship is created by any use of this website.  You should not rely on any information in this blog.

What Does the Court Look at When Awarding Spousal Support?

Spousal support is intended to help maintain the accustomed standard of living based upon the duration of the marriage, and may be awarded to either spouse. Factors that determine the amount of spousal support are listed in California Family Code 4320, which states as follows:

“In ordering spousal support under this part, the court shall consider all of the following circumstances:

• (a) The extent to which the earning capacity of each party is sufficient to maintain the standard of living established during the marriage, taking into account all of the following:
  • (1) The marketable skills of the supported party; the job market for those skills; the time and expenses required for the supported party to acquire the appropriate educationor training to develop those skills; and the possible need for retraining or education to acquire other, more marketable skills or employment.
  • (2) The extent to which the supported party’s present or future earning capacity is impaired by periods of unemployment that were incurred during the marriage to permit the supported party to devote time to domestic duties.
•  (b) The extent to which the supported party contributed to the attainment of an education, training, a career position, or a license by the supporting party.
• (c) The ability to pay the supporting party, taking into account the supporting party’s earning capacity, earned and unearned income, assets, and standard of living.
• (d) The needs of each party based on the standard of living established during the marriage.
• (e) The obligations and assets, including the separate property, of each party.
• (f) The duration of the marriage.
• (g) The ability of the supported party to engage in gainful employment without unduly interfering with the interests of dependent children in the custody of the party.
• (h) The age and health of the parties, including, but not limited to, consideration of emotional distress resulting from domestic violence perpetrated against the supported party by the supporting party where the court finds documented evidence of a history of domestic violence, as defined in Section 6211, against the supported party by the supporting party.
• (i) The immediate and specific tax consequences to each party.
• (j) The balance of the hardships to each party.
• (k) The goal that the supported party shall be self-supporting within a reasonable period of time.

Except in the case of a marriage of long term marriage, generally found when a marriage lasts 10 years or longer, as described in Section 4336, a “reasonable period of time” for purposes of this section generally shall be one-half the length of the marriage. However, nothing in this section is intended to limit the court’s discretion to order support for a greater or lesser length of time, based on any of the other factors listed in this section, Section 4336, and the circumstances of the parties.

• (l) Any other factors the court determines are just and equitable.” Spousal support can later be modified as well depending on the change in circumstances. It is important to consult with a knowledgeable attorney who can assist you with getting the most that you deserve. Even when spousal support is granted, and an order is made, opposing spouses often times fail to pay on time if at all. We can help make sure that you receive what you’re entitled to, and enforce these decrees on non cooperative spouses.

To discuss the specific issues of your case and possible defenses that can be asserted call (949) 478-3160.

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This blog, and the individual posts on the blog, are for informational purposes only, do not provide a substitute for engaging legal counsel, and do not constitute legal advice or solicitation for legal services.  Any legal advice should be tailored to specific clients and their specific needs.  No attorney-client relationship is created by any use of this website.  You should not rely on any information in this blog.