When will the Court award attorney s fees?
In our experience, an attorney s fee award usually is made for one of three reasons. The first, and most common, is simply that one spouse has far greater financial resources than the other. If one spouse earns a significantly greater salary than the other, or has substantially more property, the resulting income or financial disparity often is the basis for a fee award. The second reason for an award of fees is if one spouse conducts himself or herself unreasonably during the litigation (for instance, failing to respond to discovery, violating Court orders, wrongfully using funds). The third basis for an award of fees is if one party has been unreasonable in settlement negotiations or has refused to engage in meaningful settlement discussion, increasing the other party s fees by forcing him or her to litigate unnecessarily. The fees that are awarded based upon the second and/or third categories generally are much less than those awarded due to a disparity in respective incomes.
