Mom Sought $350,000 in Attorney’s Fees for Successful Defense of Custody But Only Awarded $42,000

Tennessee law case summary on attorney’s fees in family law from the Court of Appeals.

Jennifer Furnas Coleman v. Marty Alan Coleman – Tennessee divorce attorney’s fees

The parties to this Tennessee divorce case had a long expensive divorce.  They were the parents of two minor children when they divorced in 2003.  The original parenting plan specified that the children would have regular, unsupervised parenting time with the father.  In 2006, the mother filed a petition to modify the parenting plan.  She alleged that the father was addicted to drugs and that his parenting time should be suspended.

Even though the parties eventually agreed to the settlement of most of the issues in the case, the wife had incurred thousands of dollars in legal bills in the process.  At the time of the final settlement of most issues in 2007, the mother’s legal bills were almost $50,000.

After the settlement, she ran up more legal bills trying to collect the fees from the pre-2007 litigation.  By the time the case came before a special master tasked with resolving this issue in 2008, the mother’s total fees had ballooned to over $350,000.

The special master heard testimony from all involved, and finally awarded the mother about $125,000.  Both parties objected to this finding, and it was heard before the trial court in 2011.

The trial judge ultimately concluded that the mother’s attorney had “used every litigation arrow in his quiver.”  The court ruled that the mother “cannot expect the other side to pay for it.”  Ultimately, the trial court reduced the total award to $42,000.

The mother then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, arguing that this sum was inadequate.  The father also appealed, arguing that the award was too large.  It fell upon the Court of Appeals to sort out the conflicting claims.

The appeals court first took the opportunity to remind the mother of the rules governing briefs in the Court of Appeals, and pointing out a number of violations of those rules.

The court then turned to the appropriateness of an award of fees.  The general rule in Tennessee is that each party pays his or her own legal fees, unless a specific statute allows them.  The Tennessee statutes do allow for attorney fees for child support in some cases, and the court then examined the relevant statute.  It held that an award of fees could be appropriate in the case.  Therefore, it turned to the amount of those fees.

A party seeking attorney’s fees has the burden of proof of establishing the claim.  The court must be fully apprised of what services the fees were for.  The court then looked at the relevant factors.

Here, the lower court had concluded that most of the fees were not reasonable or necessary.  The mother never pointed to any specific errors in the trial court’s order.

The appeals court carefully examined the fees as well, and ultimately concluded that the lower court had acted within its discretion.

In addition, because of the deficiencies in the mother’s brief, the appeals court held that the father was entitled to attorney fees on appeal.  He was forced to defend issues that were ultimately not considered by the court.  Therefore, that portion of the appeal was deemed frivolous, and the father was entitled to fees.

For these reasons, the court affirmed the judgment, but sent the case back for a computation of the father’s fees on appeal.

No. W2011-00585-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 4, 2015).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see Tennessee Divorce Laws.