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Attorney fees

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blueeyes92870

Junior Member
California - My brother's ex-wife filed for divorce in 12/06. In 01/07, they went to mediation and agreed on custody and terms for divorce. When they went into court to have the judgment approved by the judge, the ex-wife changed her mind. At that point they were each in debt to their attorneys for about $3K. Since then she has tried various legal steps attempting unsuccessfully to get full custody of my niece and racking up attorney fees along the way for my brother. The judge denied all attempts and appointed an attorney for my niece which cost an additional $5K. Now, 16 months later, she has agreed to the original custody agreement from mediation. Unfortunately my brother now has to pay $20K in attorney fees. Can he ask for the court to make her pay some of this because of her shenanigans? If so, how would he do that?

ThanksWhat is the name of your state?
 


LdiJ

LdiJ

Senior Member
blueeyes92870 said:
California - My brother's ex-wife filed for divorce in 12/06. In 01/07, they went to mediation and agreed on custody and terms for divorce. When they went into court to have the judgment approved by the judge, the ex-wife changed her mind. At that point they were each in debt to their attorneys for about $3K. Since then she has tried various legal steps attempting unsuccessfully to get full custody of my niece and racking up attorney fees along the way for my brother. The judge denied all attempts and appointed an attorney for my niece which cost an additional $5K. Now, 16 months later, she has agreed to the original custody agreement from mediation. Unfortunately my brother now has to pay $20K in attorney fees. Can he ask for the court to make her pay some of this because of her shenanigans? If so, how would he do that?

ThanksWhat is the name of your state?
Click to expand...
I am not sure that is going to be possible. Yes, its possible to ask a judge to order that one of the parties pay some or all of the legal fees of the other party. However, when its an initial case that's usually only possible if there is a very large income discrepancy between the two parties or if one of them has been very "frivolous" with the case.

Its difficult in an initial case to prove one party frivolous. Yes, I know that she agreed to something in mediation and then backed down, and later agreed to the same thing that was originally agreed in mediation...but its still hard to prove that frivolous in an initial case.

What does his attorney say about that issue?
 
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