McCormick v. Terrell

Syllabus

The defendant, whose marriage to the plaintiff had previously been dis- solved, appealed to this court from the decision of the trial court granting the plaintiff's postjudgment motion for attorney's fees. The defendant claimed that, in ordering him to pay the attorney's fees of the plaintiff, the trial court applied the incorrect legal standard in that it failed to determine that the plaintiff lacked ample liquid funds to pay her own attorney's fees. Held that the trial court did not abuse its broad discretion in its award of attorney's fees to the plaintiff: contrary to the defendant's contention, the court was not required to make a finding that the plaintiff lacked ample liquid funds to pay her own attorney's fees, as the court explicitly concluded that a denial of the plaintiff's motion for attorney's fees would undermine other financial orders of the court, one of two circumstances our Supreme Court has recognized that warrant an award of attorney's fees; accordingly, the lack of an explicit finding that the plaintiff lacked ample liquid assets to pay her own attorney's fees had no bearing on the basis for the trial court's award. (One judge dissenting) Argued September 14—officially released November 2, 2021