Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Divorce
One party can be ordered to pay the other party’s attorney’s fees and costs for failure to comply with a Florida divorce judgment. Before a court can award fees and costs, it has to make certain findings such as the reasonableness of the amount of fees requested. This was an issue in the case Merriman v. Adler, 5D21-2372 (Fla. 5th DCA May 13, 2022).
As part of the parties’ divorce judgment, the former wife was required to refinance the marital home within a certain amount of time. She was also required to make payments on, refinance or sell a vehicle that was apparently financed in the former husband’s name. She did not refinance the marital home by the deadline stated in the parties’ marital settlement agreement, nor did she follow through with her obligations concerning the vehicle, resulting in its repossession. The former husband filed a motion for contempt and enforcement, and was awarded attorney’s fees from the former wife. The former wife appealed.
The appellate court reversed the award, holding “While this Court’s review of the propriety of the trial court’s finding of entitlement to fees is precluded by the lack of a transcript of the fee hearing, the absence of findings in the order to support the amount of fees awarded is error on the face of the order that may be addressed on appeal, even absent a transcript. [. . .] Because the order fails to include factual findings supporting the amount of attorney’s fees awarded, we reverse the award of attorney’s fees and remand to the trial court to make and set forth specific findings regarding the reasonable hourly rate and the number of hours reasonably expended in counsel’s representation of Former Husband.”
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