What Are Interim Attorney's Fees?
by
Lisa Zahn on Oct. 02, 2013
Divorce & Family Law Family Law Divorce & Family Law Divorce
Summary: FAQs about when attorney's fees are awarded in family law cases.
Q: I’m getting a divorce. Can the Court
order my spouse to pay my attorney’s fees?
A: Subject to certain limitations, yes, the court can make your spouse pay your attorney’s fees while the case is pending. If your spouse is in control of the assets in your case, your attorney can set a hearing and ask the court to order that your spouse pay your reasonable interim attorney’s fees and expenses. The court will make such an order if it will serve to preserve the community estate, protect you and your spouse, and is deemed necessary and equitable.
Q: What are interim attorney’s fees?
A: Interim attorney’s fees, paralegal fees, and expenses are fees and expenses incurred by one party which the Court can order to be paid by the other party during the pendency of the divorce.
Q: What kind
of questions will you ask me at the hearing?
A: Generally, you will be asked questions about four things:
1. That you need money in order to pay your attorneys’ fees during the pendency of the case and you do not have sufficient funds under your control in which to pay them;
2. That your spouse has the ability to pay
your attorney’s fees (this generally means that the court is provided with
evidence that your spouse is in control of a source of funds from which to pay
your attorney’s fees);
3. That the fees requested by your
attorney are reasonable and necessary; and
4. That the fees are necessary to preserve
the community estate, and will protect you and your spouse.
Q: Will
court order that my spouse pay all of my attorney’s fees during the pendency of
the case?
A: The court will only order that reasonable interim attorney’s fees be paid by one spouse for the benefit of the other spouse in the divorce proceeding. Reasonableness is determined by many factors, including the complexity of your case, and the rate charged by other attorneys with experience comparable to your attorney’s. In other words, the court will order that a reasonable amount of your attorney’s fees be paid on an interim basis depending upon the facts of your case. However, it does not necessarily mean that all of your attorney’s fees will be paid.
Q: My spouse
filed a Petition that said he wanted me to pay interim attorney’s fees. However, I do not have any money. Can the
court make me pay my spouse’s interim attorney’s fees?
A: Every Petition and Counter-Petition for Divorce filed normally asks that the other party pay attorney’s fees. It is entirely at the court’s discretion whether or not to make one party pay the other party’s interim attorney’s fees. However, if you do not have access to an account or source of funds from which to pay attorney’s interim fees, the court will most likely not order you to pay interim attorney’s fees to your spouse.
Again, the test is whether or not the party seeking the payment of interim attorneys’ fees can show that the other spouse is in control of sufficient funds in which to pay the interim attorneys’ fees, the interim attorney’s fees are reasonable and necessary, and the requesting spouse does not have control of sufficient funds or assets in which to pay his/her own fees.