Marriage of Sopwith CA3

I. BACKGROUND

Laurie and Jim met in 1988. She was an associate attorney at the Sacramento office of a national law firm; he was a farmer from a Sacramento-area farming family.

2 Undesignated statutory references are to the Family Code.

2 Laurie and Jim married in 1991 and separated in 2019. They have two sons, both now adults. Laurie petitioned for dissolution of the marriage in 2019, seeking attorney’s fees, spousal support, and a determination of property rights. A lengthy marital dissolution trial was conducted over 20 days in March and April 2021. The trial court issued a tentative statement of decision on December 22, 2021, to which both sides objected. The trial court issued a final statement of decision on March 25, 2022. We summarize the relevant evidence and the trial court’s tentative and final statements of decision below. A. Sopwith Farms Jim established Sopwith Farms with his father in 1975. Sopwith Farms grows rice on leased land, leases farming equipment, and provides farming services to other farms. By 1994, Jim had become the sole owner of Sopwith Farms through inheritance. The business prospered over the years, growing in value from $429,970 at the time…