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Court fees/Lawyer Fees

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Pearl72

Member
What is the name of your state? Colorado

I am in the process of going to court in reference to my daughter -- my ex is trying to get custody of my daughter, and we have already tried the mediation route, and it failed terribly. I was just wondering, could i request that he pay 1/2 of attorneys fees if i had one? We didn't have to pay for any fees court wise yet with the papers we had to file, (back in august) - and the court paid for our mediation. Lawyers are unfortunately expensive, and already tried to get one pro bono, but i didn't qualify. What are the chances of me getting 1/2 of the attorneys fees paid by him? ( He was the one that filed the papers first to get custody of our daughter, and i filed papers 2 days in regards to our situation) Please advise. Thanks. I am currently the primary residential parent, and my daughter has lived with me since she was born, he gets every other weekend, and supposed to take every other tuesday - but hasn't since my daughter started school back in August... just to give some background.
 
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LdiJ

Senior Member
What is the name of your state? Colorado

I am in the process of going to court in reference to my daughter -- my ex is trying to get custody of my daughter, and we have already tried the mediation route, and it failed terribly. I was just wondering, could i request that he pay 1/2 of attorneys fees if i had one? We didn't have to pay for any fees court wise yet with the papers we had to file, (back in august) - and the court paid for our mediation. Lawyers are unfortunately expensive, and already tried to get one pro bono, but i didn't qualify. What are the chances of me getting 1/2 of the attorneys fees paid by him? ( He was the one that filed the papers first to get custody of our daughter, and i filed papers 2 days in regards to our situation) Please advise. Thanks. I am currently the primary residential parent, and my daughter has lived with me since she was born, he gets every other weekend, and supposed to take every other tuesday - but hasn't since my daughter started school back in August... just to give some background.
Unless the court might view dad's case to be frivolous, or that dad is being unreasonable and causing the costs of the case to be higher than they should be, it not very likely that the court would order dad to pay part of your attorney fees.

However, it does sound like you need an attorney. Can you borrow the money somewhere?
 

Pearl72

Member
I am hiring an attorney tomorrow thanks to some help with some family members who have helped pull together some money for a retainer. Now with having one, as of tomorrow... is there a way for me to have him pay for at least half of the attorneys fees? He has already stated that if i ended up getting a lawyer, that it would be worse for me, whatever that means... and he has refused to go thru any lawyer that i may hire. He said that he is not required to go thru a lawyer if i hire one. I just want this done and overwith - hence why i am going to get an attorney. My daughter is the one suffering, and it is not fair to her.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
I am hiring an attorney tomorrow thanks to some help with some family members who have helped pull together some money for a retainer. Now with having one, as of tomorrow... is there a way for me to have him pay for at least half of the attorneys fees? He has already stated that if i ended up getting a lawyer, that it would be worse for me, whatever that means... and he has refused to go thru any lawyer that i may hire. He said that he is not required to go thru a lawyer if i hire one. I just want this done and overwith - hence why i am going to get an attorney. My daughter is the one suffering, and it is not fair to her.
Does he not have an attorney? He has no choice but to deal with your attorney. His threat to refuse to deal with your attorney is an empty one, he has no choice. Its a good thing that you are hiring one, because it sounds like he is trying to bully you...the attorney will be a good buffer. In fact, once you have an attorney refuse to comunicate with him directly about the case at all.

Ask your attorney about the fees. If he/she feels that the specifics of the case warrant a request for legal fees, he/she will make one, and then it will be up to the judge to decide.
 

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
Does he not have an attorney? He has no choice but to deal with your attorney. His threat to refuse to deal with your attorney is an empty one, he has no choice. Its a good thing that you are hiring one, because it sounds like he is trying to bully you...the attorney will be a good buffer. In fact, once you have an attorney refuse to comunicate with him directly about the case at all.


WRONG! He has a choice. he doesn't have to deal with her attorney at all. As a party he can deal with the OP directly. She can refuse to communicate with him directly about the case but he doesn't have to communicate with the attorney. HIS ATTORNEY has to deal with the OPs attorney but parties do not.

Ask your attorney about the fees. If he/she feels that the specifics of the case warrant a request for legal fees, he/she will make one, and then it will be up to the judge to decide.
And most likely attorney fees will not be rewarded with out the case he filed being shown to be frivolous. She had a choice as to whether to hire an attorney and she did so. That makes the fees her responsibility and she hsould not count on him paying for them.
 

Pearl72

Member
No, He does not have an attorney. Thanks for the replies. I will get back and let you all know how it ends up turning out.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
And most likely attorney fees will not be rewarded with out the case he filed being shown to be frivolous. She had a choice as to whether to hire an attorney and she did so. That makes the fees her responsibility and she hsould not count on him paying for them.
Ok...so he doesn't have to respond to motions, pleadings, discovery or anything else if initiated by her attorney?....because he doesn't have to "deal with" the attorney? Maybe we are looking at different definitions of "deal with"?

I also agree that she should not count on him paying any part of her legal fees. However I do feel that her attorney is the best person to judge whether or not she should ask.
 

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
Ok...so he doesn't have to respond to motions, pleadings, discovery or anything else if initiated by her attorney?....because he doesn't have to "deal with" the attorney? Maybe we are looking at different definitions of "deal with"?

Actually he doesn't have to respond. he will have to deal with the consequences of not responding but truthfully he can ignore all filings. It won't help him at all. But it also may not hurt him much if the judge is going to deal with them at a hearing. Then he can show up and argue it there. I have seen that happen -- and while it is not the smartest move and would get an attorney in hot water for doing so -- he as a layperson may get a lecture but may not get hit as hard. As for the rest of it -- he most definitely does NOT have to communicate to her through the attorney.

I also agree that she should not count on him paying any part of her legal fees. However I do feel that her attorney is the best person to judge whether or not she should ask.
Oh I agree but she should not count on it as the means of paying the attorney.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
I was viewing "deal with" as outlined above, not as general communication. Yes of course he can ignore all of that and attempt to deal with it in court, but even there, he is going to have to "deal with" her attorney. He can't completely ignore the fact that the attorney exists.....well, I guess he could, but that would really total his case.

I recommended that she refuse to communicate with him directly because it appears that he is trying to bully her. His statement that "it would be worse for her" if she hired an attorney sure sounds like a bully.
 

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