ATTORNEY FOR THE CHILD PROPERLY AWARDED ATTORNEY’S FEES OF OVER $34,000 IN CONNECTION WITH THE APPEALS IN THIS DIVORCE CASE; HOWEVER A HEARING IS NECESSARY TO APPORTION THE FEES BETWEEN THE PARENTS (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department determined the attorney for the child in this divorce proceeding properly made a motion seeking attorney’s fees for the appeal of the matter to the Second Department and the Court of Appeals and was properly awarded attorney’s fees of over $34,000. However, the Second Department held that a hearing was necessary to determine how the fee should be apportioned between the parents:
In this action for a divorce and ancillary relief, the Supreme Court awarded sole legal and physical custody of the parties’ minor children to the defendant, without a hearing, under the adequate relevant information standard. This Court affirmed the order … , and the plaintiff appealed to the Court of Appeals. The attorney for the children (hereinafter the AFC) opposed the plaintiff’s appeal, but proposed a new standard for the need for evidentiary hearings in custody cases. The Court of Appeals reversed this Court’s order, rejecting the adequate relevant information standard, and determined that an evidentiary hearing was required in this particular case … . …
Contrary to the plaintiff’s contention, the difference in opinion between this Court (see Matter of Plovnick v Klinger, 10 AD3d 84) and the Appellate Division, Third Judicial Department (see Redder v Redder, 17 AD3d 10), as to whether attorneys for children may be compensated directly by the children’s parents, rather than by the State, does not give rise to a constitutional claim under the equal protection clauses of the state and federal constitutions. …
… [T]he plaintiff’s motion to modify the parties’ apportionment of responsibility for the AFC’s fees should not have been decided without an evidentiary hearing. We take no position on whether the equal split between the parties was appropriate, but because the affidavits submitted by the parties provided sharply conflicting reports on the parties’ finances … and there was “no evidence in the record that the financial circumstances of the parties [had] ever been considered” … . Lee v Rogers, 2019 NY Slip Op 08559, Second Dept 11-27-19