Florida Supreme Court Case Clarifies Attorney’s Fee Awards in Divorce Cases
Divorce tends to be expensive. In situations where one spouse has considerably more earning power than the other, the Florida courts can see fit to require the higher-earning spouse to pay the other spouse’s legal fees. This is intended to guarantee that each spouse has the opportunity for competent and skilled representation in the divorce process. The Florida Supreme Court has addressed the issue of awarding attorney fees in a landmark case heard in 1997.
Background of the case
The aforementioned case stemmed from a highly contested divorce in Florida. During the process of dissolving their marriage, both parties incur substantial legal costs in the process of litigating the issues of their divorce.
Attorney fees can be awarded in a family law case, as required by the Florida Statute §61.16, which provides for the awarding of attorney fees in a family law case to ensure that both parties have the same capability to obtain the services of competent counsel. In applying the said provision, the financial resources of the parties are compared. If one spouse makes considerably more money than the other, there is a greater need to award attorney fees to that spouse.
In the aforementioned case, the trial court ordered the husband to pay part of his wife’s attorney fees. The decision was made based on the circumstances of the case and the financial resources of both parties.
The decision of the trial court, however, was challenged by the husband, who contended that the decision should be based on the financial resources of the parties and not on other factors.
The appeal
This case eventually made its way before the Florida Supreme Court. On appeal, the critical question was how the court should construe Florida Statute §61.16 in determining whether to grant the wife attorney fees.
The husband’s position was that attorney fees should be granted based only on a comparison of the financial resources of the parties, specifically, the financial need of the spouse seeking attorney fees and the other spouse’s ability to pay. The husband argued that the court should not consider the conduct of the parties in litigating their divorce.
The Supreme Court, however, refused to adopt this limited interpretation of the statute. The Supreme Court agreed with some of the husband’s arguments. It agreed that the spouse’s need and ability to pay were primary considerations for the court. However, it should not be the loan factor. If one party is driving up legal fees through litigation abuse, the court can also award attorney fees.
The Supreme Court of Florida held that a court may consider the entire conduct of the parties in determining whether to grant attorney’s fees. The court may consider the conduct of the parties if one of the parties has behaved in a way that needlessly prolongs the litigation, thus increasing attorney’s fees.
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Source:
law.justia.com/cases/florida/supreme-court/1997/86649-0.html
