Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Attorney's Fees and Costs



In the recent update to Nevada family law, Assembly Bill 263 (AB263) spelled out exactly how you may be entitled to getting some of your legal expenses back from your former spouse when going through family law proceedings:

Section 1. NRS 125.040 is hereby amended to read as follows:
125.040 1. In any suit for divorce the court may, in its discretion, upon application by either party and notice to the other party, require either party to pay moneys necessary to assist the other party in accomplishing one or more of the following:
(a) To provide temporary maintenance for the other party;
(b) To provide temporary support for children of the parties; or
(c) To enable the other party to carry on or defend such suit.
2. The court may make any order affecting property of the parties, or either of them, which it may deem necessary or desirable to accomplish the purposes of this section. Such orders shall be made by the court only after taking into consideration the financial situation of each of the parties.
In plain language, that means that if you are a "stay-at-home" spouse and are unemployed, your spouse cannot either financially hold you hostage if you want to seek a divorce, nor can they go hire a super high-priced divorce attorney and expect you to crumble to all their demands because you don't have any of your own money for your own attorney. 

Everyone is entitled to be on an equal playing field, legally speaking, so if your spouse files for divorce and spends $25,000 with the intention of squashing you like a bug in court, they can't. 
I highly recommend this film: "The Judge". Great flick!



Well, they can hire the $25,000 attorney, but that means if you don't have any money, they'd have to pay for YOU to have a $25,000 attorney, too. 

The point is, don't let your lack of money or lower income prevent you from seeking the legal assistance you need. 

Louis Schneider's Blog - April 20, 2016.