Calcaterra

Family law courts have a difficult task. They must characterize property, divide community property, and award spousal and child support. This undertaking becomes even more challenging when a party submits misleading or false information to the court. Where the trial court recognizes deception, it may draw adverse factual inferences and even refer the matter for perjury prosecution. As we said in In re Marriage of Chakko (2004) 115 Cal.App.4th 104, 110 [ 8 Cal.Rptr.3d 699 ], the courts will not tolerate those who interfere with the truth-seeking function of the trial court. Here the trial court expressly opined that appellant, Omid Badakhsh (father), committed perjury. 1 Father appeals from the order increasing his child support obligation from $350 per month to $1789 per month. He contends: (1) the evidence is insufficient to support the trial court’s determination of his income, (2) the trial court erroneously refused to accept a proposed modification of the DissoMaster calculation of child support, (3) the trial court erred in not imputing income to mother of $9,000 per month based on her earning capacity, and (4) the trial court should have evaluated mother’s fitness…