Legal Question in Family Law in Minnesota

Re: unnecessary lawyer fees

At any point in a dissolution, a Court may also require one party to pay all or a portion of the other party's legal fees. The Court can award attorney's fees on one of two basis:

(1) Need Based

(2) Fault based

Need based legal fees may be awarded in an amount necessary to enable a party to carry on or contest the proceeding, provided that the Court finds:

(a) that the fees are necessary for the good-faith assertion of the party's rights in the proceeding and will not contribute unnecessarily to the length and expense of the proceeding;

(b) that the party from whom fees, costs, and disbursements are sought has the means to pay them; and

(c) that the party to whom fees, costs, and disbursements are awarded does not have the means to pay them.

Fault based fees may be awarded if the Court finds that one party has contributed unreasonably to the length and delay of the legal proceedings and thus increased the fees, costs, and disbursements related to the proceedings. Some examples of delays where fees are awarded may include:

(a) a failure of one party to provide complete and necessary discovery responses;

(b) filing of repeated or frivolous motions;

(c) failure of a party to appear in court;

(d) failure of a party to file necessary and required court documents (this varies from State to State);

(e) acts by a party that create additional legal costs (eg. hiding, selling or dissipating assets, damaging property, incurring unnecessary debt in the other party's name, harassment of a party, abuse).

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Re: unnecessary lawyer fees

Attorneys fees in a divorce proceeding may generally be awarded under Minnesota law either based on need, or because one party has unreasonably increased the expense of the proceeding.

Lawyers fees based on need are periodically awarded in Minnesota, usually while the case is pending, and before a final divorce decree has been entered. There is no strict criteria for determining "need." The basic question before the court is whether the party requesting an award of attorney's fees can afford to defend him/herself, and whether the other party has the ability to contribute to the payment of the fees.

Fees based on bad conduct are not based on need. If one of the parties causes an unnecessary increase in the cost of litigation (missing hearings or deadlines, being unreasonably contentious, for example), that party can be ordered to pay some or all of the other party's attorneys fees and costs.

Both of these types of attorney fee awards (need based fees, and conduct based fees) are covered in the divorce statutes.

In addition, there are other, separate grounds for awarding attorneys fees against someone who's conduct is unreasonable or inappropriate, but generally speaking the court in a divorce proceeding will rely upon the attorney's fee provisions of the divorce statute.

You should keep in mind that merely because the law allows the court to award fees, there is no guarantee the court will do so. The court is not required to make an attorney's fee award if one party is in need and cannot afford an attorney; there is no constitutional right to be represented by an attorney in a divorce proceeding. Moreover, the court is not required to punish a disagreeable party by awarding attorney's fees against them, and some judges will give even very troublesome parties a great deal of latitude.

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