Anthony Brace v. Nauvanie Xavier

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

5) 6 ANTHONY BRACE,) Case Number: FDI-23-798381) 7 Petitioner) Hearing Date: September 8, 2026) 8 VS.) Hearing Time: 9:00 AM) 9 NAUVANIE XAVIER,) Department: 404) 10 Respondent) Presiding: AI MORI) 11) 12 REQUEST FOR ORDER: SPOUSAL OR PARTNER SUPPORT, ATTORNEY FEES AND COSTS, 13 MONEY FOR EMERGENCY HOUSING 14 TENTATIVE RULING 15

16 The parties are ordered to appear at 9:00 AM on 9/8/2026 in Department 404 in-person or by 17 Zoom video to discuss Wife’s 8/13/2026 Request for Order. If a party chooses to appear by Zoom, 18 that party must abide by the Notice and Instructions for Remote Appearance in San Francisco 19 Family Court set forth above. 20

21 A. Procedural History 22 1) Petitioner Anthony Brace (Husband) and Respondent Nauvanie Xavier (Wife) married on 23 11/11/2011. Husband contends the parties separated on 7/4/2023, for a marriage of 11 years and 7 24 months. Wife did not specify a date of separation in her Response to the Petition. The parties 25 have no minor children. Husband is represented by Schneider Law. Wife’s prior attorney Armin 26 Najafi substituted out of this case on 7/1/2026. Wife is currently self-represented. 27 2) On 1/23/2025 (Findings and Order After Hearing filed 1/31/2025), Judge Costin ordered Husband 28 to pay Wife $1,156 per month in temporary guideline spousal support (plus $250 per month for 29 the $4,474 in temporary spousal support arrears owed by Husband for the period 10/4/2024 –

1 1/31/2025). Judge Costin also ordered Wife to spend 10 hours per week in job search related 2 activities, apply for a minimum of 20 jobs per week, and serve written logs of her job search 3 activities each month. The guideline calculation is based on Husband’s earning $5,064 per month 4 in wages and $1,420 per month in other taxable income, and Wife’s earning $1,935 per month in 5 unemployment compensation. 6 3) On 4/11/2025, the parties appeared for a Mandatory Settlement Conference, but a settlement was 7 not reached. 8 4) On 5/20/2025 (Findings and Order After Hearing filed 5/21/2025), Judge Costin ordered Husband 9 to pay $15,000 directly to Wife’s attorney for Family Code section 2030 attorney’s fees.

Judge 10 Costin also included the following language in her order: “The Court finds that Wife’s work 11 search efforts are lacking as it appears that Wife has only applied to three jobs in the last four 12 months, and only at UCSF, who previously terminated her employment involuntarily. A good 13 faith search for work under the circumstances would involve Wife applying to multiple other jobs 14 with other employers and pursuing all openings in a reasonable commute distance in good 15 faith...Wife is reminded that it is the goal of this state that each party will make reasonable good 16 faith efforts to become self-supporting as provided in Family Code section 4320.

Wife is on 17 notice that failure to make reasonable good faith efforts to become self-supporting may be one of 18 the factors considered by the Court as a basis for modifying or terminating spousal support.” 19 5) On 8/15/2025, the parties appeared before Judge Luna for a Judicial Settlement Conference, but a 20 settlement was not reached. 21 6) The parties previously had a 3-day trial set in June 2026 before Judge Chan on the issues of date 22 of separation, division of assets and debts, spousal support, medical fees, attorney’s fees, 23 reimbursements, credits, and breach of fiduciary duty.

However, per the Stipulation and Order 24 filed 4/30/2026, the parties agreed to vacate the June 2026 trial dates and set a future trial setting 25 date on 9/21/2026 in Dept. 405. 26 7) On 7/17/2026, Wife filed an Income and Expense Declaration. Wife states that she is 54 years old 27 and has been unemployed since 9/16/2024. Wife states that her only source of income is $1,406 28 per month in spousal support (it is not known why this figure does not match the $1,156 per 29 month Husband is under an order to pay Wife per month).

Wife states she has $56 in cash savings

1 and lists no other assets. Wife states that she owes student loans and taxes, but does not specify an 2 amount. Wife states that her monthly expenses total $2,395. 3 8) On 8/3/2026, Husband filed an Income and Expense Declaration. Husband states that he is 62 4 years old and is a stationary engineer for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Husband 5 states that he is paid $5,720 per month in wages and he earned $2,268 in overtime last month. 6 Husband also states that he earns $1,464 per month in pension / retirement fund payments. 7 Husband states that he has $1,200 in cash and $280 in easily saleable investments.

Husband owes 8 nearly $70,000 in debt, including a $15,875 auto loan, credit card debt, and for medical bills. 9 Husband states that his monthly expenses total $5,348. 10 9) On for hearing is Wife’s Request for Order filed 8/13/2026. Wife requests that the Court modify 11 the current spousal support order to $3,040 per month so she can pay for rent. Wife also requests 12 $16,000 in attorney’s fees. Wife did not file a declaration explaining the bases for her requests. 13 10) On 9/1/2026, Husband filed a Responsive Declaration.

Husband asks the Court to deny Wife’s 14 requests. Husband states, “Respondent has not provided the appropriate documentation and 15 information required to review/support her requests for a modification of Spousal Support, or to 16 review/support her request for Attorney's Fees and Costs... Respondent's previous attorney, 17 Armin M. Najafi, Esq., should be called into Court to justify why the $11,990.40 in Attorneys 18 Fees and Costs was used up in this matter when he never did anything in the case over the past 19 year and a half after being retained.

He essentially Substituted out of the case after being paid the 20 only funds we had available for Respondent to seek counsel. There are no sources to be able to 21 pull funds for additional attorney's fees and costs, and I have no funds left to afford to keep my 22 own attorney retained through Trial, which is coming up. My pending motion also requests 23 termination of Support for Respondent based on her continued non-compliance with Court 24 Orders.” 25 11) The Court notes there is a future hearing date currently set for 12/4/2026 in Dept. 405A on 26 Husband’s Request for Order filed 8/3/2026 on the Husband’s requests to: 27 a.

Order Wife to immediately produce a list of documents specified by Husband 28 b. Order issue and evidentiary sanctions 29 c. Order Wife to pay attorney’s fees sanctions

1 d. Terminate or in the alternative reduce temporary spousal support 2 e. Impute income to Wife 3 f. Order Wife to fully and timely comply with all future Seek Work Order obligations, 4 including monthly production of logs 5 g. Order Wife to sign any and all documents necessary for Moon Schwartz & Madden to 6 obtain information directly from third parties including the University of California and 7 the Stationary Engineers Local 39 Annuity Plan 8 B. Findings and Order 9 1) The parties are ordered to appear to discuss Wife’s 8/13/2026 Request for Order. 10 2) On the Court’s own motion, the Court sets a future hearing date of 12/8/2026 at 9:00 AM in 11 Dept. 404 on the following issues from Husband’s 8/3/2026 Request for Order: 12 a.

Husband’s request to terminate or in the alternative reduce temporary spousal support 13 b. Husband’s request to impute income to Wife 14 c. Husband’s request for an order for Wife to fully and timely comply with all future Seek 15 Work Order obligations, including monthly production of logs 16 d. Husband’s request for an order for Wife to sign and any all documents necessary for 17 Moon Schwartz & Madden to obtain information directly from third parties including the 18 University of California and the Stationary Engineers Local 39 Annuity Plan 19 3) The following issues from Husband’s 8/3/2026 Request for Order shall remain on calendar for 20 12/4/2026 in Dept. 405A: 21 a.

Husband’s request for an order for Wife to immediately produce a list of documents 22 specified by Husband 23 b. Husband’s request for issue and evidentiary sanctions 24 c. Husband’s request for attorney’s fees sanctions related discovery 25

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