Who Pays Legal Fees in a Divorce

If the divorce isn`t contested — that is, you both agree — it doesn`t make sense to hire a lawyer as long as you also agree on the division of your property. It is quite possible to carry out your own divorce without the help of a lawyer. The intervention of a lawyer does not make divorce more legal. You should be able to handle the whole process yourself. Each divorce court will provide you with free forms and basic guidelines, and court staff will help you through the process. However, there are remedies for this! First, if you are a dependent spouse who is entitled to support or other support after separation, you can apply to the court for legal fees. A decision awarding attorneys` fees to spouse 1 means that spouse 2 must assume legal responsibility for the spouse`s reasonable legal costs 1. An award of lawyers` fees may also be possible if one of the spouses has behaved in bad faith and has unnecessarily prolonged the dispute. Finally, if a lawyer`s fee allowance would not apply to you, but you are still having difficulty paying your lawyer`s fees, you can also ask the court for an advance for your share of the division of the divorce property. For example, if one spouse is the sole breadwinner and provides for the family, while the other spouse stays at home, takes care of the children and does everything a stay-at-home spouse does to manage the household; The court may then consider the financial resources of both spouses and order one spouse to pay the other spouse reasonable legal fees or preliminary damages.

Ideally, by awarding fees, the court seeks to create a level playing field that allows both parties to obtain legal assistance through „matrimonial“ means. This does not mean that both parties will be able to hire divorce lawyers who charge the same hourly rate or the same skills and abilities. The court will hear testimony on the following factors (1 to 4 below) in determining whether one spouse is required against the other spouse`s ability to pay to award attorneys` fees to one of the spouses. In North Carolina, if a spouse is considered a „dependent“ spouse who is entitled to child support or other assistance after separation, the court may award that his or her reasonable attorney`s fees will also be paid by the assisting spouse. Attorneys` fees will be paid until the divorce process is completed. As mentioned earlier, since these costs are considered joint property, divorcees must submit all their attorneys` fees by this date. The court may order one of the spouses to pay the costs to the extent necessary for equity. The dependent spouse must be the party requested by the court and to whom the judge has requested to award the lawyer`s fees. This is usually done as early as possible at the beginning of divorce proceedings so that the dependent spouse can receive high-quality legal assistance for the rest of their case. Advance payments are placed in an escrow account or client escrow account to separate funds from the lawyer`s (or law firm`s) funds. The money is withdrawn when the lawyer has completed the legal work on the case.

Customers receive an account, usually monthly, detailing details of work done and amounts paid from the advance, as well as the balance. In order for a court to determine how much a spouse may be responsible for lawyers` fees, the lawyer must explain to the party requesting assistance why a certain amount of fees is needed and from what source the fees come. When deciding who pays lawyers` fees, a judge usually takes into account the financial situation of both parties involved. Generally, if one spouse earns significantly more money, the court may conclude that it is „fair and just“ for the financially wealthy spouse to pay some or all of the costs for the other. If a spouse does not qualify for a total or partial summons from a lawyer, there is yet another way to make it possible to pay divorce attorney fees. A spouse may ask the court to receive an advance on his or her share of the equitable distribution at the beginning of the divorce proceedings in order to pay the lawyer`s fees. If the judge grants it, that party can pay its own legal bill by granting the spouse provisional access to the funds received by the spouse in the final distribution decision after the case is closed. A judge will also sometimes award attorneys` fees not based on the party`s financial situation, but on the basis of fault. Sometimes, in a divorce case, a party will engage in bad faith behavior that will drag out the case unnecessarily, unfairly increasing the legal fees of the innocent spouse.