Court Can Split Attorney Fees When Both Parents Prevail
Tennessee case summary on attorney’s fees in family law.
Steven J. Dale v. Sharon K. Ball Dale
The mother and father in this Williamson County, Tennessee, case were divorced in 2011, and entered into a permanent parenting plan for their three children. In 2014, both parents filed a motion to modify the parenting plan. While those motions were pending, the mother gave notice of her intention to relocate with the children to Arizona. The father filed an opposition, and the case was heard by Judge Michael Binkley.
The trial court held that the mother lacked a reasonable purpose for relocating, and denied her request. In a later hearing, however, the court granted the mother’s petition to modify the parenting plan.
The trial court also awarded attorney’s fees. It held that the father was the prevailing party in the relocation matter, and awarded him about $27,000. However, it found the mother to be the prevailing party in the modification matter. The mother appealed, but only with respect to the attorney fee award. She argued that she was the overall prevailing party.
In an opinion penned by Judge Frank G. Clement, Jr., the appeals court first noted that the standard of review was abuse of discretion. It then turned to the question of which party was the prevailing party. It found that the trial court had followed the correct approach—since each party had instituted a separate proceeding, it was correct to treat each proceeding separately.
The appeals court then turned to the amount of the award. It again noted that this is largely a matter for the trial court’s discretion. For these reasons, it affirmed the lower court’s judgment.
Both parties also requested attorney fees on appeal, but the appeals court, in its discretion, declined to award fees to either party.
For these reasons, the Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court, remanded the case, and assessed the costs of appeal against the mother.
No. M2018-01999-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 20, 2019).
TN attorney fees properly split, and each side was prevailing party for half of case.
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
To learn more, see The Tennessee Divorce Process: How Divorces Work Start to Finish.
