Marriage of Vellema CA4/3

INTRODUCTION

David Vellema (David) and Lucia Vellema (Lucia)1 were married in 1997. They separated in November 2016 and a judgment dissolving their marriage was entered in March 2020. At the time of dissolution, David and Lucia had one minor child (J.V.), who was born in June 2007. Lucia purports to appeal from an order denying her request for an order granting her sole physical and legal custody of J.V. and awarding her attorney fees and support payments. Lucia’s notice of appeal identifies only an order denying her subsequent motion for reconsideration as the order being appealed. An order denying reconsideration is not immediately appealable, and, therefore, we grant, in part, David’s motion to dismiss the appeal. The order denying reconsideration also awarded David sanctions pursuant to Family Code section 2712 in the amount $3,000, of which $2,500 was compensation for attorney’s fees. An order awarding attorney’s fees is immediately appealable. We conclude the family court did not err by imposing sanctions against Lucia and therefore affirm that part of the order. David has filed a motion to impose sanctions against Lucia for bringing a frivolous appeal. Although we conclude…