Marriage of Bonner CA4/1

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 25, 2024
DocketD081725
StatusUnpublished

This text of Marriage of Bonner CA4/1 (Marriage of Bonner CA4/1) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marriage of Bonner CA4/1, (Cal. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

Filed 1/25/24 Marriage of Bonner CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

In re the Marriage of CANDY and TERENCE BONNER. D081725 CANDY BONNER,

Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. ED88462)

v.

TERENCE BONNER,

Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment and postjudgment order of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Frank L. Birchak, Judge. Affirmed. Terence Bonner, in pro. per., for Appellant. No appearance for Respondent. This marriage dissolution action involving Terence and Candy Bonner,

returns to us for a third appeal.1 In our 2022 Opinion, we remanded to the trial court with specific directions to, among other things, “resolve an inconsistency between (a) the mathematical sum of the specific individual monetary amounts identified throughout the [2020] Statement of Decision as credits to either party, and (b) the total amount of $19,016.30 identified as the equalization payment that Candy would have otherwise owed to Terence.” (2022 Opinion, supra, D078148.) On remand, the trial court entered an amended judgment, explaining that the inconsistency we detailed in the 2022 Opinion was the result of a mathematical error, which the trial court corrected in the amended judgment. After entry of the amended judgment, Terence filed a motion for a new trial and a motion to set aside and vacate the judgment. The trial court denied Terence’s postjudgment motions, explaining that Terence sought relief that exceeded the scope of the authority accorded to it by the limited remand described in the 2022 Opinion. Terence appeals from the amended judgment, as well as from the trial court’s denial of his postjudgment motions. We conclude that Terence’s appeal lacks merit, and we accordingly affirm the judgment and the order denying the postjudgment motions.

1 The two prior appeals resulted in the following opinions: In re Marriage of Bonner (Dec. 22, 2015, D066627) [nonpub. opn.]; and In re Marriage of Bonner (Apr. 22, 2022, D078148) [nonpub. opn.] (2022 Opinion). As is customary in family law matters, because the parties have the same last name, we refer to them by their first names to avoid any confusion, and we intend no disrespect by doing so.

2 I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND In setting forth the relevant factual background for this appeal, we turn to our 2022 Opinion: “Terence and Candy were married in March 1978. On August 30, 2012, Candy filed a petition for dissolution, in which she alleged August 29, 2012, as the date of separation. In January 2014, the trial court entered a judgment of dissolution as to the parties’ marital status only.

“Terence is retired from employment with an agency of the federal government, where he worked from May 1978 until May 2010. Since retirement, Terence has received a federal pension, but he did not share the pension with Candy for the first two years after separation. In July 2014, in response to a request filed by Candy, the trial court ordered Terence to pay Candy half of his pension on a going forward basis. A domestic relations order (DRO) was created to implement the division. Terence made direct payments to Candy for her share of his pension until the pension administrator started making payments to Candy in 2017.

“Candy worked for the County of San Diego during the marriage, and she retired in 2019. In 2019, Terence stipulated to a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) that divided Candy’s pension.

“During the marriage, the parties purchased a house in El Cajon and a house in Campo. After the date of separation until July 2013, the parties lived together in the Campo house. After that date, Candy moved into the El Cajon house. The El Cajon house produced rental income during the parties’ entire separation, including when Candy resided in it.

“On eight days between January 29, 2019, and February 11, 2020, the trial court held a trial on reserved marital property issues, as well as on Candy’s request for spousal support and both of the parties’ requests for an award of attorney fees as a sanction under [Family Code] section 271. Among the community

3 property items at issue were: (1) the parties’ two real properties; (2) the parties’ respective pensions; (3) Candy’s retirement account; and (4) the parties’ debt. The parties also sought reimbursement for certain payments they made from separate property funds during separation. During the trial, Candy was represented by counsel, and Terence represented himself.

“In a 46-page statement of decision [issued on August 7, 2020](the [2020] Statement of Decision), the trial court made a series of orders concerning the division of the parties’ community property and the requests for reimbursement. In addition, the trial court rejected Candy’s request for spousal support. The trial court also ordered that Terence pay $37,500 of Candy’s attorney fees as a sanction pursuant to [Family Code] section 271, to be paid at the rate of $250 per month. However, the trial court reduced the amount of sanctions that Terence was obligated to pay based on the amount of an equalization payment that it concluded Candy owed to Terence, which it stated was $19,016.30. The trial court reserved jurisdiction on several issues, including spousal support. It also ordered that a new DRO for Terence’s pension be prepared to accurately reflect Terence’s time of service attributable to his unused sick leave. The trial court ordered that an expert be appointed to calculate the amount that Candy was underpaid from Terence’s pension income under the prior version of the DRO. A judgment on the reserved issues was entered on August 7, 2020, which expressly incorporated the [2020] Statement of Decision.

“Terence filed a motion for a new trial and a motion to set aside and vacate the judgment, which the trial court denied.

“Terence filed a notice of appeal from the judgment as well as from the trial court’s order denying his postjudgment motions.” (2022 Opinion, supra, D078148.)

Terence raised a wide range of issues in his appeal, all of which we addressed in the 58-page 2022 Opinion. In the 2022 Opinion, we determined that a remand to the trial court was warranted with respect to three different issues raised by Terence. The first two issues, which are not relevant here,

4 involved (1) the trial court’s failure to rule on Terence’s request for reimbursement of the auto insurance premiums he paid for Candy; and (2) the trial court’s retention of jurisdiction over spousal support based on its mistaken understanding that it lacked the discretion to terminate its jurisdiction over that issue. (2022 Opinion, supra, D078148.) The third issue, which is implicated in this appeal, concerned an inconsistency in the 2020 Statement of Decision with respect to the amount of the equalization payment that Candy would be required to pay to Terence, prior to taking into account the trial court’s award of sanctions to Candy. As our discussion of that issue is pertinent here, we set it forth in full: “Referring to the [2020] Statement of Decision, Terence states that because the trial court did not itemize the credits awarded to each party, the judgment is unclear.

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