AB 2369: Domestic Violence Prevention Act: attorney’s fees and costs.

Existing law establishes the Domestic Violence Prevention Act for the purpose of preventing acts of domestic violence, abuse, and sexual abuse and providing for a separation of the persons involved in the domestic violence for a period sufficient to enable those persons to seek a resolution of the causes of the violence. Existing law authorizes a court to issue a protective order enjoining a party from engaging in specified acts, including threatening or harassing the other party or disturbing the peace of the other party.

Existing law authorizes a court to issue an order for the payment of attorneys fees and costs of the prevailing party. Existing law also requires the court to order that the respondent pay petitioners attorneys fees and costs, in any action in which the petitioner is the prevailing party and cannot afford to pay for the attorneys fees, if appropriate, as specified.

This bill would instead, after notice and a hearing, and upon request, require a court to issue an order for the payment of attorneys fees and costs for a prevailing petitioner. The bill would authorize a court, after notice and a hearing, and upon request, to issue an order for the payment of attorneys fees and costs for a prevailing respondent only if the respondent establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that the petition or request is frivolous or solely intended to abuse, intimidate, or cause unnecessary delay. The bill would require the court, before awarding attorneys fees and costs, to first find that the party ordered to pay has, or is reasonably likely to have, the ability to pay.