Divorce can be an emotionally and financially challenging event in any marriage’s life. At Winter & Grossman in Rochester, our divorce attorney can help you understand your legal rights in this matter.
New York law favors settlement in order to reduce court caseload and save both parties time and money, so courts will often favor spouses who agree on agreements regarding attorneys’ fees in their decision making processes.
Legal Fees
Divorce can be emotionally and financially taxing; at Winter & Grossman we understand this and strive to assist clients in understanding the costs associated with filing their divorce.
New York law establishes a presumption in favor of awarding counsel fees to the less monied spouse in any divorce proceedings, pursuant to Domestic Relations Law SS 237. The purpose is to promote equitable legal representation between spouses and prevent one party from using financial assets as leverage against their opponent during litigation.
Courts weigh several factors when making their determination as to who should pay attorney’s fees in a divorce, including each party’s willingness or unwillingness to settle issues in favor of litigation; courts preferring settlement where possible as doing otherwise can waste both parties’ time and resources – both being lost while litigating an issue may impose extra expenses upon a losing side.
Settlement Agreements
Divorce can be an intricate and emotionally charged process that involves many considerations. Some of these include property division and custody issues. Furthermore, divorce can be costly; many wish they could ask their partner to cover legal fees but this is often not possible.
The court strongly urges couples to attempt mediation instead of going to trial when resolving their differences. Mediation provides a neutral third party who helps you reach an agreement with your spouse on all issues; if mediation cannot result in agreement being reached between both sides, trial may ensue; in which case each side must hire attorneys as representatives during proceedings.
New York law stipulates that in certain situations, those with more financial resources must pay their spouse’s attorney fees in order to level the playing field between married couples when it comes to finances. But this is no guarantee; courts will consider each spouse’s willingness to settle before making their determination about who pays.
Trials
Spouses can agree how to divide up attorney fees as part of their final divorce settlement agreement, and request that the judge review and approve it as part of court orders; this can even be done informally without needing to appear personally before a judge.
In more complex divorce cases, a court may award attorney fees as part of its divorce judgment. When making this determination, they will take several factors into consideration: most importantly the spouses’ respective financial situations such as assets and income; they also consider whether any party acted in “bad faith” by refusing discovery requests, hiding assets or unreasonably prolonging proceedings.
Note that it is unlikely a spouse will be ordered to cover their former partner’s legal expenses even if they caused its dissolution, due to the various exceptions which could apply.
Appeals
Filing an appeal simply because you disagree with the outcome of your divorce trial is generally not advised, unless there has been significant change since judgment was entered and there has been evidence of new circumstances since this judgment has been issued. Otherwise, it’s unlikely the court will overrule their previous decision to grant your appeal.
IF YOUR SPOUSE HAS MORE INCOME THAN YOU DO, your attorney may seek to have them pay your legal expenses. However, this request can be difficult as many factors must be taken into consideration by a judge before reaching their determination.
If you believe an order was improperly issued or that legal procedure was violated during your case, or that court did not follow its established procedures, you have the option of appealing. Your lawyer can discuss its pros and cons for this course of action with you. Usually the appellate process does not involve providing new evidence but instead review of previous trials where legal arguments on your behalf were presented before the court.
