The general rule in Florida civil litigation is that both parties are expected to pay their own attorney's fees regardless of the outcome of the case. In other words, there is no automatic “loser pays” rule. There is no specific formula or method for calculating who pays the cost of a divorce in Florida.
Generally speaking, courts try to level the playing field when they are asked to grant temporary fees for lawsuits or to pay attorney fees at the end of the case.
The seriousness of the cases in which the award of a fee multiplier is voided voids the award because there is evidence that a significant number of lawyers are willing to accept the case in the event of a contingency.However, in many cases there are specific laws that allow the winning party to recover attorney fees. In the case of attorney contract fees, the award of attorney fees is generally considered mandatory, meaning that the court must determine who has won and who has lost, and must grant the winning party reasonable attorney's fees. Often, a contract states that the prevailing party in future litigation is entitled to attorney fees. This doesn't mean that both parties can hire divorce attorneys who charge the same hourly rate or who have the same skill and capacity.
In a contingency case, there are certain circumstances in which an attorney's fee can be increased by using a multiplier of 1.5 to 2.5.Capacity to pay hypothesis because it could be said that both spouses can pay their own attorney's fees from a financial point of view. For example, the Florida Condominium Law often allows the winning party to recover attorney fees. Basically, the law is intended to allow the plaintiff to recover attorney fees if he submits an offer of judgment, which was rejected by the defendant, and the plaintiff obtained a judgment that exceeds at least 25 percent of the offer. This is a complicated legal rule that sometimes allows injured parties to recover compensation for attorney fees and legal costs despite the lack of a contract or relevant law.
The business and litigation attorneys at Lacey Lyons Rezanka are ready to help you successfully resolve this and all of your business and litigation issues. However, considering the concept of need and capacity to pay, the lawyer representing the income-producing spouse could be creative and propose an equitable distribution strategy that allows the non-income-producing spouse to use a portion of the marriage funds distributed fairly to pay their own attorneys' fees. Ideally, by paying the fees, the court would try to create a level playing field by allowing both parties to obtain legal advice with “spousal funds”. Generally, when a law allows a party to pay attorney fees, the court will apply the judgment of important issues or something similar to the judgment of important issues to determine which party is entitled to receive the attorney's fees.
