Marriage of Williams CA4/2

I.

INTRODUCTION

Pro. per. appellant Phillip Williams appeals the trial court’s judgment, its order

denying his motion to vacate the judgment, and its order sanctioning him $2,500. We

dismiss Williams’s untimely appeal from the trial court’s judgment and otherwise affirm.

II.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Williams’s wife, Jollyann Bumatay-Williams, petitioned to dissolve their marriage

in 2017. At the end of a bench trial in September 2019, the parties stipulated that

Bumatay-Williams’s counsel would prepare a stipulated judgment that the parties would

sign and file with the court. In October 2019, Bumatay-Williams filed two unidentified

judgments. About a week later, she filed a “Judgment on Dissolution with Child(ren).”

In support of that judgment, Bumatay-Williams’s counsel submitted a “Declaration of/re:

Entry of Judgment Without Signature of Other Party.” Counsel explained that he filed

the stipulated judgment without Williams’s signature because he could not obtain

Williams’s signature.

The trial court rejected the judgment because a party to the action, the Riverside

County Department of Public Social Services (the Department), did not sign…