Marriage of Saedi and Kadivar CA2/2, B340089

Kadivar and Saedi divorced after a tumultuous marriage, with two minor children involved.
Saedi was awarded sole legal and physical custody, and Kadivar was ordered to pay substantial child support and attorney’s fees.
Kadivar was found to have committed acts of domestic violence, leading to protective orders and her incarceration for further criminal conduct.
Kadivar’s subsequent request for attorney’s fees (after her release from jail and loss of employment/license) was denied by the family court, which cited her misconduct and incarceration as reasons.
On appeal, Kadivar argued that the court failed to make mandatory findings under Family Code section 2030 before denying her request.

Issue	Kadivar's Argument	Saedi's Argument	Held
Mandatory findings under § 2030	Court failed to make required statutory findings before denial	Equitable factors (misconduct/incarceration) justified denial	Error; court must explicitly make § 2030 findings
Impact of disparity in income	Disparity found; court required to award attorney's fees	Disparity caused by Kadivar quitting her job	Disparity alone triggers mandatory award under § 2030
Consideration of equitable factors like violence	Only statutory factors (disparity/access/ability to pay) are relevant	Domestic violence/incarceration justify denial	Only statutory § 2030 factors are relevant
Effect of procedural defects & assertions of waiver	No prejudice, error apparent in record	Defects/waiver justify upholding denial	No prejudice; error not cured by procedural defects

In re Marriage of Hearn, 94 Cal.App.5th 380 (abuse of discretion standard for § 2030 attorney’s fee determinations)
In re Marriage of Knox, 83 Cal.App.5th 15 (court’s mandatory duty under § 2030 to ensure access to legal representation)
In re Marriage of Morton, 27 Cal.App.5th 1025 (amendments to § 2030 impose mandatory attorney’s fees obligations on courts)