Marriage of Whittlesey CA4/3

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

2 Audrey Whittlesey filed a petition for legal separation from Andrew Whittlesey in August 2016, after 55 years of marriage. Andrew responded to the petition with a request for dissolution of the marriage. A status only judgment of dissolution was entered in February 2017. The parties stipulated to the appointment of the Honorable Franz E. Miller (Ret.) to hear all remaining matters as a temporary judge; trial was conducted over multiple days in February 2020. After trial, the parties filed multiple briefs and supporting documents regarding attorney fees. The court issued three oral or written tentative rulings, and three statements of decision.

1 Unless otherwise specified, all further statutory references are to the Family Code. 2 We refer to the parties by their first names to avoid confusion because those involved share the same last name.

2 Judgment on reserved issues was entered in March 2021. As is relevant to this appeal, the judgment provides as follows: 1. Andrew breached his fiduciary duty to Audrey by transferring several 3 community property assets to his girlfriend. Because the court found that Andrew acted with fraud, malice,…