Marriage of Blum and Herbstman CA6

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Mother and father married in 2004. Their only child was born later that year. They separated on December 31, 2004, and father filed for divorce the following year. Since that time, the parties have been engaged in high conflict litigation concerning child custody and support. In 2011, following a child support trial, father was ordered to pay mother $1,441 in monthly child support. On January 20, 2015, mother filed a request for order seeking to modify child support.1 She asserted that father’s annual income exceeded $4 million and requested $10,000 per month in child support. In a supporting declaration, mother declared that during the 2011 child support trial father sold a company he had founded to Motorola in exchange for $4.6 million in cash plus options and restricted stock valued at $3.7 million and that father had failed to disclose that fact at trial. Mother lodged supporting documents with the court. Those included documents subpoenaed from Motorola setting forth father’s proceeds from the sale of his business, father’s 2013 W-2 with total wages of nearly $2.5 million,2 and bank account statements showing father had a closing…