Legal Question in Family Law in New York

Re: divorce case

This is confusing. Your legal fees are generally your own except under very select circumstances.

(i) You do not have the money to pay for a lawyer, but your spouse does have such money.

(ii) Your spouse has engaged in frivolous or 'waste' in the form of unnecessary or punitive legal action and the judge has made a finding of fact to vindicate this point. Then you, as the 'winner' ay ask for sanctions (punishment) of your spouse) in the form of a money judgment for your expenses and inconvenience.

Re: divorce case

Any competent divorce attorney will apply for fees if there are even arguable grounds to get them - including disparity in assets or earnings capacity. Whether you get them is dependent upon the discretion of hte court, but quite often they are awarded as part of a divorce settlement.