Matter of Liebenstein v. Irani

125 A.D.3d 970, 1 N.Y.S.3d 861

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: February 25, 2015
• Docket: 2013-05470
• Status: Published

Opinion

Appeal from an order of the Family Court, Rockland County (William P. Warren, J.), dated April 26, 2013. The order granted the mother’s motion for an award of an attorney’s fee to the extent of awarding her an attorney’s fee in the sum of $26,805.

Ordered that the order is modified, on the facts and in the exercise of discretion, by reducing the award to the mother of an attorney’s fee from the sum of $26,805, to the sum of $13,402.50; as so modified, the order is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.

The Family Court providently exercised its discretion in determining that the mother was entitled to an award of an attorney’s fee (see Family Ct Act § 651 [b]; Domestic Relations Law § 237 [b]; Matter of Feng Lucy Luo v Yang, 104 AD3d 852 [2013]; Matter of Belle v DeMilia, 19 AD3d 691 [2005]). However, given the equities and circumstances of this case, the relative merits of the parties’ positions, and their respective financial circumstances, an award of an attorney’s fee to the mother in the total sum of $13,402.50, or half the amount awarded by the Family Court, is appropriate (see Judge v Judge, 48 AD3d 424 [2008]; Timpone v Timpone, 28 AD3d 646 [2006]).

The father’s remaining contentions are unpreserved for appellate review and, in any event, without merit. Dillon, J.P., Leventhal, Sgroi and Hinds-Radix, JJ., concur.