The New Jersey Appellate Division’s recent unpublished opinion in the case of O’Connell v. Nataloni shows the importance of paying close attention to the language in your divorce settlement agreement as courts will generally hold parties to the exact language of the agreement.
In the case, the Plaintiff appealed the trial court’s ruling that ordered the Defendant to pay $5,000.00 of the Plaintiff’s attorney fees. The Plaintiff appealed the ruling because her divorce agreement with the Defendant stated that each party would be required to pay the other’s entire counsel fees if either party violated the terms of the divorce agreement. The Plaintiff incurred almost $57,000.00 in attorney fees while she tried to collect an alleged debt of over $60,000.00 in child support and other expenses owed by her former husband. The Appellate Division remanded the case back to the trial court for a further explanation of why the Defendant was not forced the pay the Plaintiff’s entire debt of $57,000.00 in attorney fees when the Defendant had clearly violated the terms of the divorce agreement. The trial court heard the case again and forced the Defendant to pay the Plaintiff $15,000.00 for her attorney fees. Again, the Plaintiff appealed the amount of the award, but her second appeal was denied.
Divorce settlement agreements (often called “property settlement agreements”) are the most commonly found agreements between spouses. The term property settlement agreement is somewhat misleading as it implies that such agreements only discuss marital property. In practice, these agreements often settle other issues as well, such as custody, visitation, child support, emancipation, alimony, division of marital debt, tax issues, and, of course, attorney fees.
NJ divorce lawyer discusses lawyer fees award
In New Jersey, courts have the authority to force one of the parties in the case to pay the other party’s attorney fees at the beginning of the case (the legal term for this is “pendente lite”), in the middle of the matter and at the conclusion of the case. Additionally, New Jersey courts also have the right to award attorney fees to a person who has incurred attorney fees while trying to collect child support monies that are owed. As part of a divorce settlement agreement, both spouses will often negotiate whether one spouse will be responsible for paying the other’s attorney fees (this is often seen when one spouse earns significantly more money that the other spouse).
The Nataloni case shows how important it is to have an attorney help craft a divorce settlement agreement. The Appellate Division felt that the language in the divorce agreement was so important that it sent the case back to the trial court to find out why the Plaintiff was not awarded more money. If the Plaintiff had not had the assistance of an attorney when she prepared her divorce settlement agreement and instead had relied upon an online, do-it-yourself divorce settlement agreement, she may not have been entitled to the additional $10,000.00 she was able to recover (or perhaps, no award at all)!
About Maurice Giro
NJ divorce lawyer Maurice Giro is a Partner at the law firm of Christian, Giro & Tadros, L.L.P., a law firm with offices in New Jersey and New York City. His practice has a focus on divorce and family law. To discuss NJ family law and related issues, they can be reached at:
Christian, Giro & Tadros, L.L.P.
921 Bergen Ave, Suite 525
Jersey City, NJ 07306
(201) 255-4417
The Firm has offices located in Roseland, New Jersey, and New York City.
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