FLORIDA FAMILY FUEDS, ATTORNEYS FEES AND #BRUCE JENNER’S PONYTAIL
What do #Kris Jenner and # Bruce Jenner’s ponytail have to do with Florida law?
#Bruce Jenner’s ponytail is making headlines — and not making attorneys rich.
Whether #Kris Jenner likes the ponytail on her Olympian husband’s head or not is an issue best left to you Kris and #Bruce Jenner. For now, #Bruce Jenner and #Kris Jenner are merely “trending” on #social media. Thank God they are not involved in family litigation.
Leaving Hollywood and Beverly Hills behind for the rainy swamps of South Florida: a very recent #Florida family law case just handed down on December 17, 2013, speaks about family members who couldn’t agree, and who hired #Florida lawyers. This is a Florida case about getting your #Florida attorney’s fees paid.
#Florida litigation is expensive. In the family law context, just like #Florida estate lawsuits, and #Florida probate disputes, emotions can run high– and, if clients aren’t careful, so, too, can the #Florida legal bills.
#Florida attorneys fees can be so costly, that they become an important part of your #Florida lawsuit
- how much do I seek in damages?
- Can I recover my #Florida attorneys fees from the other side?
- Should I try to settle the #Florida lawsuit to keep my #Florida lawyers fees at a minimum?
- If I win, who pays my #Florida legal fees ?
These are all great questions which #Florida clients need to discuss with, and have explained by, their #Florida litigator.
You may be able to get the other side to pay your #Florida attorneys fees if there is a Florida statute or contract which permits this. One Florida law permits you to have the other side of your #Florida lawsuit pay your attorneys fees if you offer to settle the matter, and they refuse, and you win at a #Florida trial. This is referred to as a fee shifting statute in Florida. Whether or not you can use this Florida statute to recover your #Florida legal fees, depends on your particular #Florida lawsuit .
In this recent case, a Florida appeals court reminds us that the #Florida attorney’s fee statute and rules regarding proposals for settlement, so-called offers of judgment, do not apply in Florida family law cases. So, if you’re in a Florida family law case, and whether you’re fighting over a ponytail, Florida divorce, alimony, child support, and, sometimes a prenup, you may not be able to use this Florida statute to get your attorneys fees.
Ask your #Florida lawyer what Florida statutes you might use to try to get your #Florida lawyer fees paid for by the other side.
FOR FAMILY LAW LAWYERS, PROBATE LAWYERS, REFERRAL SOURCES AND LITIGATORS
Seeking and obtaining #Florida legal fees from a #Florida lawsuit is a specialty within a specialty. Florida law does not generally permit a party to a #Florida lawsuit to recover his or her legal fees unless there is a Florida statute, or a contract. Additionally, #Florida litigators know that under certain circumstances, you need to plead attorneys fees as an element of damages, so-called special damages. Beyond that, there are a number of statutes that #Florida probate trial lawyers, and #Florida estate litigators try to use to recover attorneys fees for their Florida clients in disputes involving wills, trusts, and estates. Here are four important points to know:
- you need to plead, or ask for, attorneys fees in your initial pleading – – the complaint or answer and counterclaim or cross-claim
- determine at the early stage of your #Florida litigation whether a contract or Florida statute may assist your client in recovering #Florida legal fees
- file a motion for attorneys fees within 30 days of any judgment. Actually, there is a Florida Supreme Court case which says you can file it before. Consult the #Florida probate rules for estates and trusts, as well as the #Florida probate code, and the #Florida trust code
- attorneys fees are awarded by a Florida judge at a full-blown, evidentiary hearing – – – a mini trial
- bring your legal services contract and introduce it into evidence
- get ready to testify yourself about the legal services which you provided
- introduce your detailed invoices into evidence
- you must retain an expert witness to testify to the reasonableness of your fees, your hourly rate, and the services which you provided for the Florida geographic area which the Florida lawsuit was brought it
John Pankauski, www.johnpankauski.com, is the author of The Trustee’s Book – An Individual’s Guide To Money, Misfits, Marriages, and Mismanagement, and the upcoming The $41 Trillion Inheritance War. He is an estate and trust litigator in West Palm Beach, Florida. www.pankauskilawfirm.com and has been featured on the CBS Evening News, The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, NBC, ABC and Fox.