Benner

*181 I.

INTRODUCTION

At the direction of the trial court, respondent *908 Rebecca Tam (Rebecca) 1 filed a petition seeking to join appellant Dr. John Kachorek as a party to the marital dissolution proceeding between her and her former husband, Paul Benner. In her petition, Rebecca outlined the unusual procedural history of this case that led to her filing the petition for joinder. The trial court dissolved Rebecca and Paul's marriage in June 2010. In May 2011, Paul filed a postjudgment motion seeking modification of child custody. In June 2013, the trial court appointed Dr. Kachorek, pursuant to Evidence Code section 730, 2 to conduct a child custody evaluation. Dr. Kachorek issued a child custody evaluation report in 2014.

In 2016, the trial court determined that Dr. Kachorek's report was deficient in a number of respects and that the report was thus of no value in assisting the court in determining what would be the appropriate child custody arrangement. The court ordered Dr. Kachorek to repay Rebecca and Paul all of the expert fees that they had paid him pursuant to his appointment.

In March 2017, the trial court set aside the repayment order and joined Dr. Kachorek, sua…