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Costs and Disbursements

Quick Facts

Spouse with financial need can be awarded attorney fees.
The attorney can go after the other spouse to enforce payment of awards of costs and fees.
The court can award punitively against either spouse or parent.

Attorney Fees & Collection Costs

In certain cases, the family court will award attorney fees, costs, and disbursements in an amount necessary to enable a spouse to carry on or contest the divorce proceeding.

The fee award must be necessary for the good-faith assertion of the spouse's rights in the proceeding and must not contribute unnecessarily to the length and expense of the proceeding.

The spouse from whom the fees, costs, and disbursements are sought must have the means to pay these expenses. If that spouse does not have the means, then the award should not be made and should not be enforced if it was made.

Finally, the spouse to whom fees, costs, and disbursements are awarded must not have the means to pay them. If that spouse does have the means to pay, then that spouse must pay his or her own expenses.

The court is also permitted to award, in its discretion, additional fees, costs, and disbursements against a spouse who unreasonably contributes to the length or expense of the proceeding. Fees, costs, and disbursements may be awarded at any point in the proceeding, including a modification proceeding. The court may award punitive costs and disbursements against either spouse.

The court may authorize the collection of money awarded by execution, or out of property sequestered, or in any other manner consistent with the power of the court.

Attorney Enforcement

An award of attorney fees made by the court during the pendency of the proceeding or in the final judgment survives the proceeding and may be collected afterward. If the award is not paid by the spouse who is ordered to pay, the award may be enforced as indicated above or by a separate civil action brought in the attorney's own name.

If the proceeding is dismissed or abandoned before determination and award of attorney fees, the court may nevertheless award attorney fees if the attorney's files a motion seeking payment. This award also survives the proceeding and may be enforced as above.