Berlin

*549 Opinion

I

This is an appeal from a portion of an interlocutory decree of dissolution, which portion awards $10,000 each to the trial counsel for the appellants in their dissolution proceeding. Although the notice of appeal is executed, in propria persona, by both Gloria and Morton, no appearance on Morton’s behalf has been made in this court. However, since a reversal of the portion of the award to Gloria’s attorney would, under the circumstances of this case, affect the award to Morton’s counsel, Morton’s nonappearance does not result in a dismissal of the appeal by him. (6 Witkin, Cal. Procedure (2d ed. 1971) Appeal, § 132, p. 4128.)

II

The Berlins were engaged in what the record makes clear was a bitter dispute over the division of a large amount of community property. After several days of negotiating conferences in the chambers of the trial court, the attorneys announced that they had reached a stipulation that was acceptable to Morton and was acceptable to Gloria “with the exception of the court fixing attorneys’ fees and costs.” Thereafter, counsel for Morton proceeded to read into the record the proposed stipulation referred to. After reading a long stipulation…

I dissent.

The majority decision in this case elevates form over substance in holding that petitioner Gloria Berlin’s objection to the court’s order for attorney’s fees of $10,000 to her own counsel and $10,000 to her husband’s counsel was predicated below solely on the theory that the amounts awarded were excessive and, therefore, that she has little standing to raise an objection here that she was misled into giving a. consent to a stipulation by the trial court’s erroneous statements as to the law, and that she was misled by the trial court’s statement as to the amount of attorney fees he was intending to fix.

A review of the record in the case at bench indicates clearly that petitioner Gloria did not give an understanding or knowledgeable consent to the award of fees made by the trial judge, and that she was misled into finally consenting to the stipulation proposed by her attorney and the attorney for her husband. The record indicates that, over and over, when the trial judge sought to determine whether petitioner understood the stipulation, agreed to by counsel for the parties, and was agreeable to its terms, petitioner raised repeated objections to the proposal as to…