In re Marriage of Feldman

In In re Marriage of Feldman (2007) 153 Cal.App.4th 1470, the husband failed to disclose a $1 million bond on his schedule of assets, failed to produce documents about the transaction of the bond, failed to disclose his acquisition of a multimillion dollar home, and failed to disclose the existence of a 401(k) account. (Id. at pp. 1481-1488.) With specific respect to the 401(k) account, the husband initially argued that he did not breach his fiduciary duty of disclosure because his wife had been secretly copying financial documents during the course of their marriage, and thus had copies of certain statements for the 401(k) account. There, the court determined that this did not exonerate the husband from his "failure to disclose the information about the 401(k) account on the Schedule or to produce documents concerning the account in response to wife's request for production," and that "'a spouse who is in a superior position to obtain records or information from which an asset can be valued and can reasonably do so must acquire and disclose such information to the other spouse' and should not expect the spouse who is not in a superior position to search for that information." (Id. at pp. 1487-1488, quoting In re Marriage of Brewer & Federici (2001) 93 Cal.App.4th 1334, 1348.) The Court awarded sanctions under a different provision of the Family Code. Nonetheless, the factual support for the finding of non-disclosure was strong: husband failed to disclose an asset valued at one million dollars; the loan incurred to purchase that asset; or any documents pertaining to the transactions. Moreover, when asked, he affirmatively denied the existence of the loan. (Feldman, supra, 153 Cal.App.4th at p. 1482.) Husband further failed to disclose his purchase of a multi-million dollar home, a 401(k) account, and the existence of new business entities. (Id. at pp. 1483-1490.)