Machado v. Machado

201 Cal. App. 2d 154, 20 Cal. Rptr. 161, 1962 Cal. App. LEXIS 2576
California Court of Appeal·Decided March 9, 1962·No. Civ. No. 62·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

BROWN, J.

This is an appeal by defendant from a separate order made after entry of the interlocutory judgment [155] of divorce, which is the subject of cross-appeals in this action this day decided (Machado v. Machado, *(Cal.App.) 20 Cal.Rptr. 152) granting plaintiff alÍ3nony and child support, pending determination of the cross-appeals, and attorneys’ fees and costs on appeal.

On July 26, 1960, the Superior Court of Merced County made and entered its interlocutory decree of divorce. Limited appeals were filed by both parties.

On October 11, 1960, after proceedings duly had and taken, the court entered its order requiring defendant to pay to plaintiff the sum of $75 per month for the support of each of two minor children, the sum of $150 per month alimony; $1,000 attorneys’ fees for services rendered and to be rendered on the cross-appeals, and actual costs on appeal.

From this order defendant appeals, and states four grounds: (1) that he is financially unable to pay the support, attorneys’ fees and costs; (2) that plaintiff failed to establish her present need for support for herself and the two minor children; (3) plaintiff failed to show that she appealed from the interlocutory decree in good faith; and (4) the award of attorneys’ fees and costs was unwarranted.

With regard to defendant’s claim that he is not financially able to pay the support or attorneys’ fees and costs, defendant testified at the trial that he had only $65 in the bank; that he owed certain real estate taxes in the approximate sum of $3,211; and that he had not made any profit during the period from January 1, 1960, to August 31, 1960.

It is admitted that the defendant’s alleged separate property is appraised in excess of $127,611; that he previously gave $42,000 of his own money to his sister; that he withdrew from a savings and loan account $8,500 belonging to himself and his wife; that he was saving $7,200 in the event that he had to pay her that sum awarded in the interlocutory decree; and that all the personal property, cows, and farm equipment were clear. At the same time, he testified that he was losing money, submitting a financial statement at the hearing on the order to show cause, which financial statement shows that during the period of time from January 1, 1960, to August 31, 1960, his total receipts were $11,014.49, and that he had disbursed a total of $27,204.96. This leaves excess disbursements of $16,190.47. There is no explanation as to where he got this [156] money. He did testify at the hearing on the order to show cause that the only money he owed was future real property taxes in the amount of $3,211.19, plus other bills unpaid totaling $1,395.52. This being all that he says he owes fails to explain where he got the $16,190 to exceed his receipts for this January to August 1960 statement.

In examining this financial statement and excluding the nonoperating business expenses and the nonbusiness expenses, it shows that defendant netted $3,456.71 for the first eight months of 1960, or averaging approximately $432 per month, in the operation of his dairy and farm. This seems to be in line with the judge’s discretion in making the awards of $150 per month to plaintiff and $75 per month to each of the two children. The matter of granting alimony pending the appeal and support of the children is within the sole discretion of the court and there is no reason for us to dispute the court’s ruling.

In Bohnert v. Bohnert, 91 Cal. 428, 431 [27 P. 732], the court said: “As to the granting of alimony pendente lite, that is a matter resting in the sound discretion of the court, and this record discloses nothing to justify us in disturbing that discretion as exercised by the trial court in this cause. Under section 137 of the Civil Code, the power to make an allowance to the wife for her support as alimony, or an allowance to her for the purpose of defending or prosecuting the action, is not exhausted upon the rendition of the judgment in the trial court.”

And it was stated in Bernard v. Bernard, 79 Cal.App.2d 353 [6] [179 P.2d 625]: “In a proceeding, subsequent to entry of an interlocutory divorce decree, involving the husband’s duty to support a minor child of the marriage, the only jurisdictional facts that must he alleged are the needs of the child and the ability to pay, and where the complaint contains such allegations the trial court has jurisdiction to make an award requiring such support.”

The defendant appeals from the order awarding $1,000 additional attorneys’ fees to the plaintiff’s attorney to prosecute her appeal and defend defendant’s cross-appeal from the interlocutory decree. The attorney for defendant did not object at the time the order was made to the awarding of the $1,000 for plaintiff’s attorneys’ fees and costs In Rogers v. Rogers, 86 Cal.App.2d 817, 823 [195 P.2d 890], the court said:

[157] “Appellant’s counsel on this appeal did not represent him at the trial, but his counsel at that time voiced no objection to the amount of attorneys’ fees as allowed. Manifestly, if an award of attorneys’ fees is to be reviewed on appeal, an objection to the amount thereof should be made in the trial court, especially where, as here, it was stipulated that the court might determine that issue in the light of what to the court ‘may be just for services rendered. ’ As was said in Meyer v. Meyer, 184 Cal. 687, 690 [195 P. 387]: ‘Furthermore, no objection whatever to the allowance was made in the trial court by the defendant. If he had an objection, he should have made it.’ ”

There is no proof of any abuse of the court’s discretion in this matter. (See Pope v. Pope, 107 Cal.App.2d 537, 540 [237 P.2d 312].) There is adequate authority for this view. (See Brown v. Brown, 162 Cal.App.2d 314 [328 P.2d 4]; and Washington v. Washington, 163 Cal.App.2d 129, 130-131 [329 P.2d 115].) It is true that only when the appeal is taken in good faith, that is, with a reasonable belief that it has merit, attorney’s fees may be awarded. (Stewart v. Stewart, 156 Cal. 651, 655-656 [105 P. 955]; Barker v. Barker, 139 Cal.App.2d 206, 220 [293 P.2d 85].) The matter of good faith is discussed hereinbelow. There is no testimony or evidence in the present case that there has been an abuse of the court’s discretion in making the award of the support to plaintiff and the award of $1,000 additional attorneys’ fees and costs to plaintiff’s attorneys.

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Machado v. Machado, 201 Cal. App. 2d 154, 20 Cal. Rptr. 161, 1962 Cal. App. LEXIS 2576 (Cal. Ct. App. 1962).

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