Kerri Sanchez and Barry Sanchez
Case No: 17FL01348
Hearing Date: Tue Sep 10, 2019 10:30

Nature of Proceedings: Req. for Order: re Vocational Examination

Respondent’s Req. for Order: Vocational Examination of Petitioner

Attorneys: Petitioner in pro per; Daniel A. Murphy for Respondent

Ruling: Barry’s request that Kerri Sanchez submit to a Vocational Examination with Lynne Tracy to determine her earning capacity, at his expense, is GRANTED; the Court requests that counsel appear with a date and time for the exam, and to meet and confer with the opposition in an effort to agree on the date; if no agreement, the Court will set the date and time on 9/10 to preclude the need to come back to resolve the setting date.

Background

On 8/7 Barry Sanchez via his attorney Daniel Murphy filed a RFO seeking to have Kerri Sanchez submit to a Vocational Examination with Lynne Tracy to determine her earning capacity; he reports that Judgment was entered on June 11, 2018, providing for spousal support payable by him to Kerri in the amount of $8,000 commencing October 1, 2017, and child support in the amount of $5,500, plus Smith-Ostler payments for any bonuses he receives. At the time of settlement, he agreed to pay over guideline child and spousal support to assist Kerri in transitioning. He claims Kerri is a 44 year old Registered Nurse with vast experience, including surgical care. Kerri is employed at Endoscopy Center, part time; children are 14 years old and almost 12, a time when Kerri could seek fulltime employment; he is well aware of the need for experienced Registered Nurses in Santa Barbara County. Kerri is underemployed.

The Court also understands that Barry seeks a modification of the current MSA and set that hearing for 9/17.

Opposition

On 8/30 Kerri filed her opposition; she asks that the Court deny his RF0 for the vocational assessment for three reasons: 1) She has increased her earnings by $1,200/mo. since the settlement (although she is now paying $300/mo. for health insurance); 2) Barry is a high earner (earning over $500K per year) and they enjoyed a very high marital standard of living so additional income imputed to her would not make any material difference in the support calculations; and 3) the issue of whether full time job opportunities are available to her is irrelevant, as her responsibilities to care for the children on a near full-time basis prevents her from working full-time.

She testifies that attending the vocational evaluation will present a hardship for her; the selected vocational evaluator is located in Calabasas; assumes the evaluation will take several hours; cannot afford to take this time away from work and from the children, particularly when the information resulting from this assessment will have little, if any, relevance in the pending modification request; she testifies that she has increased her hours worked; has increased her income; has gained employment benefits.

She also testifies that Barry’s has filed a pending support motion that asks the Court for clarifications in their MSA which include a request to increase her parenting time with the children by eliminating a couple of his overnight visits during the year; she has requested mediation with the Family Courts to discuss Barry’s decrease in timeshare request along with other custody issues and will be attending on September 30th.