Marriage of Starr

BACKGROUND

In December 2020, Tara filed a petition for dissolution in pro per, although Tara later declared that she prepared the original petition with advice of counsel, K.G. In her original petition, Tara alleged that the date of separation was March 20, 2009. Thomas filed a response and specified September 15, 2020 as the date of separation.

2 In early 2021, Tara engaged Fox & Bank as counsel. In June 2021, the parties stipulated that Tara could file an amended dissolution petition and that Thomas’s original response would serve as his response to the amended petition. The amended petition alleged that the date of separation was June 2, 2020. In 2022, Tara substituted Lisa Radcliffe as her counsel. Tara subsequently filed a request for an order to bifurcate trial on three discrete issues: enforcement of a marital agreement, Tara’s breach of fiduciary duty and sanctions claims, and the date of separation. In her declaration supporting the request for order, Tara attested that counsel had advised her to allege a separation date of 2009 in her original petition. Tara further stated that she “was advised to amend [her] petition to state that 2020 was the year [she and Thomas]…