Marriage of Jones and Ballard CA4/3

I. INTRODUCTION

This is a dissolution case involving a short, five-year, marriage, no children, a separate property business, an extremely high income on the part of the husband, and no appreciable income on the part of the wife. It comes to us via a premature appeal, which we treat as a de facto writ petition. We conclude the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in not making the initial spousal order retroactive to the date of filing. But we also conclude he could not refuse to award the low-income spouse any funds at all for a forensic accountant, given the virtual certainty the proper litigation of her case will require one.

II. FACTS

James Scott Jones filed for divorce from his wife Hollie A. Ballard on February 6, 2014. Jones was 45 and Ballard 36, and the marriage had lasted 5 years, 4 months. There are no children. On February 14, eight days after Jones’ filed his petition, Ballard filed what is sometimes called in family law an “initial OSC” or order to show cause proceeding. She asked the court to award her $21,900 in monthly spousal support pending trial. She also asked the court to require Jones to pay the mortgage on the family home in Capistrano Beach where…