JENNIFER JEAN PHILLIPS v. DAVID ERIC PHILLIPS-KERLEY

1 SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA 2 COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO 3 UNIFIED FAMILY COURT 4

5) 6 JENNIFER JEAN PHILLIPS,) Case Number: FDI-23-798937) 7 Petitioner) Hearing Date: August 25, 2026) 8 VS.) Hearing Time: 9:00 AM) 9 DAVID ERIC PHILLIPS-KERLEY,) Department: 404) 10 Respondent) Presiding: AI MORI) 11) 12 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE AND AFFIDAVIT FOR CONTEMPT; REQUEST FOR ORDER - 13 OTHER: DISCHARGE COUNTS 1-19 AND 21-42 OF ORDERS TO SHOW CAUSE; ORDER TO 14 SHOW CAUSE AND AFFIDAVIT FOR CONTEMPT 15 TENTATIVE RULING 16 Having read and considered the pleadings, declarations, and other evidence submitted in this matter, the 17 Court makes the following findings and orders: 18 A.

Procedural History 19 1) The parties in this matter are Petitioner Jennifer Jean Phillips (Wife) and Respondent David Eric 20 Phillips-Kerley (Husband). The parties married on 1/3/1998. Wife contends the parties’ date of 21 separation is 3/31/2023, for a marriage of 25 years and 3 months. Husband contends the date of 22 separation is “to be determined.” 23 2) On 11/13/2025, Wife filed an Order to Show Cause and Affidavit for Contempt alleging the 24 following counts: 25

26 Count 1 27 July 24, 2024 Order 28 Failed to serve Preliminary Declaration of Disclosure (Family Code § 2104). 29

1 Count 2 2 July 24, 2024 Order 3 Failed to file FL-141 proof of service of disclosures with the Court. 4

5 Count 3 6 July 24, 2024 Order 7 Failed to open required joint community account as ordered. 8

9 Count 4 10 July 24, 2024 Order 11 Failed to deposit court-ordered funds back into said account. 12

13 Count 5 14 July 24, 2024 Order 15 Failed to provide Petitioner with access credentials to the account. 16

17 Counts 6–10 18 September 11, 2024 Hearing 19 Repeated identical violations of Counts 1–5 after court reaffirmed prior orders and extended 20 deadlines. 21

22 Counts 11–15 23 October 9, 2024 Hearing 24 Continued identical noncompliance following third court directive. Respondent's nonperformance 25 after three separate hearings constitutes fifteen distinct willful violations. 26

27 Count 16 28 September 2024 Hearing 29

1 Defiance of Freeze Order - At the September 11 2024 hearing, the Court imposed a financial 2 freeze on community accounts pending forensic review. Respondent subsequently transferred and 3 accessed funds in defiance of that order. 4

5 Count 17 6 October 2024 Hearing 7 Defiance of Freeze Order - Despite renewed warnings and continuation of the freeze on October 8 14, 2024, Respondent again accessed and manipulated community accounts, demonstrating 9 ongoing contempt for the Court's authority. 10

11 Count 18 12 Post-Freeze Transfer of $126,000 Through PayPal 13 In or about September 2025, while the freeze order remained in effect, Respondent moved 14 approximately $126,000 through PayPal and related electronic platforms to his civilian in 76 15 separate transactions. These deliberate transfers violated the freeze and were intended to conceal 16 community assets. 17

18 Count 19 19 Withdrawal of Deferred Compensation After ATRO 20 In April 2024, after service of the Summons and ATROs, Respondent withdrew over $29,000 21 from the deferred-compensation account. This constituted a direct violation of Family Code § 22 2040(a)(2) prohibiting transfer or disposal of property without written consent or court 23 authorization. 24

25 Count 20 26 In October 2024 after the service of the Summons and the ATROs, Respondent withdrew 11,000 27 from the deferred-compensation account. This constituted a direct violation of the Family Code § 28 2040(a)(2) prohibiting transfer or disposal of property without written consent or court 29 authorization.

1 Count 21 2 Failure to Pay Court-Ordered Forensic Accountant Fees 3 At the July 24 2024 hearing, the Court ordered Respondent to pay 100% of the cost of a forensic 4 accountant to assist with financial tracing. He has made no payment and has ignored all 5 subsequent directives. 6

7 Count 22 8 Failure to Pay $10,000 Sanctions 9 At the same July 24 2024 hearing, Respondent was sanctioned $10,000 for discovery 10 noncompliance, payable to Petitioner by August 31 2024. He has failed to pay any portion, in 11 open defiance of the Court's order. 12

13 3) On 4/24/2026, Wife filed a second Order to Show Cause and Affidavit for Contempt alleging the 14 following additional counts: 15

16 Count 23 17 Order: July 24, 2025 18 Violation: Failed to serve Preliminary Declaration of Disclosure (Family Code §2104). 19

20 Count 24 21 Order: July 24, 2025 22 Violation: Failed to file FL-141 proof of service of disclosures with the Court. 23

24 Count 25 25 Order: July 24, 2025 26 Violation: Failed to open required joint community account as ordered. 27

28 Count 26 29 Order: July 24, 2025

1 Violation: Failed to deposit court-ordered funds into the joint account. 2

3 Count 27 4 Order: July 24, 2025 5 Violation: Failed to provide Petitioner with access credentials to the account. 6

7 Count 28 8 Order: July 24, 2025 (reaffirmed by Court) 9 Violation: Continued identical violations of Counts 23–27 after court reaffirmed prior orders and 10 extended deadlines. 11

12 Count 29 13 Order: September 11, 2025 – Freeze Order 14 Violation: Continued defiance of freeze order and continued spending outside normal living 15 expenses. 16

17 Count 30 18 Order: October 9, 2025 – Sanctions Order ($10,000) 19 Violation: Continued failure to pay court-ordered sanctions. 20

21 Count 31 22 Order: October 9, 2025 – Forensic Accountant Order 23 Violation: Continued failure to pay court-ordered forensic accountant fees. 24

25 Count 32 26 Order: October 9, 2025 – Exclusive Use and Possession Order 27 Violation: Continued refusal to vacate the marital residence as ordered. 28

1 Count 33 2 Order: July 24, 2025 (reaffirmed January 20, 2026) 3 Violation: Continued failure to serve Preliminary Declaration of Disclosure. 4

5 Count 34 6 Order: July 24, 2025 7 Violation: Continued failure to file FL-141 proof of service. 8

9 Count 35 10 Order: July 24, 2025 11 Violation: Continued failure to open joint account. 12

13 Count 36 14 Order: July 24, 2025 15 Violation: Continued failure to deposit funds into joint account. 16

17 Count 37 18 Order: July 24, 2025 19 Violation: Continued failure to provide account access. 20

21 Count 38 22 Order: July 24, 2025 and January 20, 2026 hearings 23 Violation: Continued willful refusal to comply with all disclosure and joint-account orders despite 24 repeated court directives. 25

26 Count 39 27 Order: September 11, 2025 – Freeze Order 28 Violation: Continued defiance of freeze order after January 20, 2026 hearing. 29

1 Count 40 2 Order: October 9, 2025 – Sanctions Order 3 Violation: Sanctions remain unpaid. 4

5 Count 41 6 Order: October 9, 2025 – Forensic Accountant Order 7 Violation: Continued refusal to pay forensic accountant. 8

9 Count 42 10 Order: October 9, 2025 – Vacate Residence Order 11 Violation: Continued refusal to vacate marital residence. 12

13 4) At the prior 5/7/2026 hearing, attorney Don Emley accepted appointment as contempt counsel for 14 Husband. 15 5) On 6/26/2026, Husband’s contempt counsel Don Emley filed a Request for Order and 16 Memorandum of Points and Authorities asking the Court to discharge counts 1 – 19 and 21 – 42 17 on the following grounds: 18 a. Several Counts allege violations of purported orders that do not exist, including orders 19 alleged to have been made on: July 24, 2024 (Counts 1–5, 21, 22); September 11, 2024 20 (Counts 6–10, 16, 18); October 9, 2024 (Counts 11–15); and October 14, 2024 (Count 21 17). 22 b.

Count 19 alleges an April 11, 2024 violation of the Standard Family Law Restraining 23 Orders attached to the Summons (Family Law), which was not served on respondent until 24 April 26, 2024. 25 c. Counts 21, 22, 30, 31, 40, and 41 allege violations of orders to pay debts, which orders 26 are not enforceable through contempt. 27 d. Counts 23–27 and 33–38 allege violations of a July 24, 2025 order that merely continued 28 a hearing and contained no other terms. 29

1 e. Counts 28, 30, 31, and 33–42 allege so-called "continued" violations of orders which 2 petitioner claimed respondent violated earlier in her Orders to Show Cause. Mr. Emley 3 cites the following language from Kohler v. Super Ct. (2010) 181 Cal.App.4th 1153, 4 1169 (“it was improper to impose multiple punishments for what was basically a single 5 disobedience, although continuing in nature.... The test is whether there are "separate 6 insults to the authority of the court, not whether the insults happened to occur on the 7 same or different days.”) 8 f.

Count 29 alleges a violation of an order that is too vague to be enforceable through 9 contempt. Mr. Emley states, “in Count [2]9, petitioner asks the Court to hold respondent 10 in contempt for alleged acts which she claims violated the following term of the order 11 entered following the September 11, 2025 hearing: ‘Wife's request to freeze the parties' 12 bank accounts is GRANTED. Husband is immediately restricted from withdrawing any 13 funds from the accounts identified by Wife in her pleadings.’ This term does not contain 14 clear requirements that are stated within the four corners of the order.

Anyone attempting 15 to comply with this order would need to review additional unspecified documents to 16 know what to do. ‘[T]he accounts identified by Wife in her pleadings,’ are not 17 identifiable on the face of the order. Nor are the pleadings in which Wife is stated to have 18 identified the accounts which are subject to restriction. The ambiguity is too great to 19 create a clear obligation directing the performance of a specified act so as to create 20 liability for contempt. (See Little, supra, 260 Cal.App.2d at p. 316.)” 21 g.

Counts 32 and 42 fail to state facts constituting contempt. Mr. Emley states, “Petitioner 22 does not elaborate on these conclusory charges anywhere in her April 24, 2026 Order to 23 Show Cause and Affidavit for Contempt, including ‘Attachment 8C – Statement of Facts 24 Supporting Contempt,’ ‘Attachment 8D – Other Material Facts Showing Willful 25 Violations Filed in Support of Petitioner's FL-410 Order to Show Cause and Affidavit for 26 Contempt,’ ‘Declaration in Support of Contempt Sanctions,’ or elsewhere in the filing. 27 The charges do not appear at all in petitioner's November 13, 2025 Order to Show Cause 28 and Affidavit for Contempt.

Petitioner sets forth no facts as to the particular conduct she 29 alleges respondent engaged in that causes her to complain of his ‘[c]ontinued refusal to

1 vacate the marital residence.’ Without notice of the exact nature of the charges against 2 him, respondent is unable to prepare his defense. (See Liu, supra, 273 Cal.App.2d at p. 3 141. Code of Civil Procedure §1211.5(b) provides that the Court may order or permit the 4 accusing party to amend the affidavit to correct any defect or insufficiency. Respondent 5 respectfully asks the Court not to exercise that discretion here. Petitioner's April 24, 2026 6 Order to Show Cause is already her second request to hold respondent in contempt.

She 7 included (and repeated) dozens of Counts that fail as a matter of law, including purported 8 ‘violations’ of a July 2025 order that she has been informed on numerous occasions was 9 simply a continuance of a hearing. From a brief review of the Register of Actions, it 10 seems clear this case could well do with less litigation, not more.” 11 6) On 7/1/2026, Wife filed a Responsive Declaration. Wife asks the Court to: (a) deny Husband’s 12 request to dismiss the contempt counts prior to arraignment; (b) proceed with arraignment on all 13 42 counts; (c) set any motion to dismiss individual counts for a separate, properly noticed hearing 14 at which she has had an adequate opportunity to prepare and respond; (d) take into account, in 15 connection with any such future motion, Husband’s continued failure to comply with disclosure 16 obligations or any other court order as of the date of that hearing; and (e) address Wife’s right to 17 counsel under Family Code 2030 before proceeding with any substantive hearing that would 18 benefit Husband, including any motion to dismiss contempt counts. 19 7) On 8/18/2026, Husband’s contempt counsel Mr.

Emley filed a Reply Declaration reiterating his 20 previously stated requests and noting that Wife did not substantively respond to the grounds 21 supporting Husband’s request to discharge the various contempt counts. 22 B. Findings and Order 23 1) On 7/15/2026, Wife filed a Request for Order seeking (among other remedies) an attorney’s fee 24 award under Family Code section 2030. That Request for Order is set to be heard on 10/6/2026. 25 The Court finds good cause to grant Wife’s request for a continuance of the hearing on Husband’s 26 request to discharge various contempt counts until the Court has adjudicated her Family Code 27 section 2030 request.

The hearing on Husband’s request to discharge contempt counts, as well as 28 the arraignment of Husband, is hereby continued to Thursday, 12/3/2026 at 9:00 AM in Dept. 29 404.

1 2) The Court will prepare the Findings and Order After Hearing. 2

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