[Cite as Boyden v. Boyden,
2025-Ohio-158.]
COURT OF APPEALS
DELAWARE COUNTY, OHIO
FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT
JOEL M. BOYDEN : JUDGES:
:
: Hon. Patricia A. Delaney, P.J.
Plaintiff-Appellant : Hon. W. Scott Gwin, J.
: Hon. William B. Hoffman, J.
-vs- :
: Case No. 24 CAF040026
:
SHERYL M. BOYDEN :
:
:
Defendant-Appellee : OPINION
CHARACTER OF PROCEEDING: Appeal from the Delaware County Court
of Common Pleas, Case No.
07DRA080355
JUDGMENT: Affirmed
DATE OF JUDGMENT ENTRY: January 22, 2025
APPEARANCES:
For Plaintiff-Appellant: For Defendant-Appellee:
Anthony W. Greco Kelly Wick
Joseph S. Jeziorowski 400 S. 5th St., Suite 200
4945 Bradenton Ave., Suite 100 Columbus, Ohio 43215
Dublin, Ohio 43017
[Cite as Boyden v. Boyden, 2025-Ohio-158.]
Delaney, P.J.
{¶1} Defendant-Appellant Joel M. Boyden has appealed the March 25, 2024,
Judgment Entry of the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas. Plaintiff-Appellee is
Sheryl M. Boyden.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
{¶2} Joel M. Boyden (“Father”) and Sheryl M. Boyden (“Mother”) were married
and had one child. They were divorced on October 26, 2011. They were granted shared
parenting of their minor child pursuant to their Joint Shared Parenting Plan.
{¶3} The Shared Parenting Plan was modified in 2013 but remained unchanged
until January 19, 2022, when Father filed Plaintiff’s Motion to Modify the Parties’ Shared
Parenting Plan. He requested the modification due to a change in his work schedule that
he claimed interfered with the current schedule. At the time of filing, their child was 16
years old.
{¶4} On April 26, 2022, Mother filed Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s
Motion to Modify Parties’ Shared Parenting Plan and Request for Award of Attorney Fees.
The magistrate denied the motion to dismiss but preserved Mother’s request for attorney
fees for trial. In her motion, Mother was seeking $5,000 in attorney fees. In her pretrial
statement, that number increased to $10,000. At trial, Mother asked for $27,977.50 in
fees.
{¶5} On October 24, 2022, the Guardian Ad Litem issued a report in which she
recommended there be no change in the current Shared Parenting Plan. Father
dismissed his motion for modification on October 27, 2022. The magistrate accepted his
[Cite as Boyden v. Boyden, 2025-Ohio-158.]
dismissal but ordered that Mother’s request for attorney fees remained set for trial on
October 31, 2022.
{¶6} The matter proceeded to trial. Mother testified to an exhibit she was given
on the witness stand marked Exhibit A. She testified that it was her billing statements and
the summary of her deposits into a trust ledger. She acknowledged that, to date, she had
paid $27,977.50. That amount did not include an invoice for the month of October. Father
objected to the exhibit and said it had not previously been provided to him.
{¶7} The Guardian ad Litem testified next. She testified regarding the fees in this
case, including her hourly rate. In addition, she was asked about Exhibit A. The magistrate
allowed her to answer questions as to the reasonableness of Mother’s attorney fees. She
stated that the hourly rate was reasonable. When asked, based on her familiarity with the
case including emails, pleadings, hearings, etc., whether the amount of fees paid was
reasonable, she stated she had not reviewed the entire document but that if “it’s the
number of hours worked times 350, then yes.”
{¶8} Father did not cross examine either witness on the specifics of the exhibit.
He did not testify or provide any evidence. The exhibit documenting Mother’s attorney
fees was admitted into evidence over Father’s objections. On December 9, 2022, the
magistrate issued a Magistrate Decision Defendant’s Motion for Attorney Fees and
awarded Mother $8,120 in attorney fees.
{¶9} In the decision, the magistrate looked to Rule 1.5(a) of the Ohio Rules of
Professional Conduct to guide in crafting an appropriate amount to award. Using those
criteria in part, the magistrate stated that the court may consider the disparity between
the parties’ income when awarding attorney fees. At trial, neither party provided testimony
[Cite as Boyden v. Boyden, 2025-Ohio-158.]
regarding their respective incomes. The magistrate took judicial notice of Father’s income
from his Affidavit of Basic Information, Income, and Expenses filed on April 27, 2022. She
then took Mother’s income from Mother’s pretrial statement which was not sworn to and
not signed.
{¶10} The magistrate then reviewed the invoices presented by Mother’s Counsel.
She reduced the total amount because the issue of modifying parenting time was not
novel or difficult and did not require advanced skill or knowledge. She concluded:
The Court has reviewed the invoices submitted and, having considered the totality
of the circumstances, including billed services that appeared unrelated upon the
limited issue upon which fees should be awarded, as well as “repetitive” or
“clerical” services, it would be equitable to award [Mother] attorney fees in the
reasonable amount of $8,120.00, which would include a reasonable time spent for
trial on October 31, 2022.
{¶11} On December 22, 2022, Father filed Initial Objections to the Magistrate’s
decision. He claimed that the award of attorney fees was in error for four reasons. First,
he argued that the magistrate relied solely on the disparity in the parties’ incomes as a
basis for awarding the fees when there was no evidence produced at trial as to their
incomes. Second, he claimed that the Guardian ad Litem was an undisclosed witness
and that no expert report had been generated or exchanged in accordance with local
rules for the domestic relations court and the Ohio Civil Rules. Third, he argued that the
magistrate erred in admitting the attorney fee invoices because they had not been
provided prior to trial. And fourth, he maintained that the attorney fee invoices contained
impermissible “block billing” entries. Father subsequently filed Supplemental Objections
in support of his first three objections.
{¶12} The court conducted an independent review of the facts and conclusions
contained in the magistrate’s decision. The court determined that the magistrate did not
[Cite as Boyden v. Boyden, 2025-Ohio-158.]
err by awarding attorney fees and found that the decision was supported by sufficient
credible evidence. The court did, however, sustain Father’s objection regarding the
reliance on disparity of the parties’ income as a basis for awarding reasonable fees.
Specifically, the court held that Father’s income could be properly considered because
the amount was set forth in an affidavit, but Mother’s could not because it appeared only
in a pretrial statement and was not evidence. Despite this, the court found this to be
harmless error because the magistrate considered other factors “and this court does not
find the award of attorney fees to be unreasonable and unsupported by sufficient credible
evidence after taking an independent review in this matter.” The court therefore sustained
Father’s objections in part and rejected them in part. The court granted Mother’s request
for attorney fees and ordered Father to reimburse Mother for $8,120. Father has appealed
that order. In his brief, he raised only the first objection to the magistrate’s decision that
the award was in error because there was no evidence to base it on income disparity.
ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR
{¶13} THE TRIAL COURT BOTH ERRED AS A MATTER OF LAW AND ABUSED
ITS DISCRETION TO THE MATERIAL PREJUDICE OF PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT IN
AWARDING $8,120 IN ATTORNEY’S FEES TO DEFENDANT-APPELLEE.
ANALYSIS
{¶14} In his sole assignment of error, Father has argued that the trial court
incorrectly awarded attorney fees because it erred as a matter of law by applying the
same factors to determine the reasonableness of the fees to whether it was equitable to
[Cite as Boyden v. Boyden, 2025-Ohio-158.]
award fees. He has also argued that the court abused its discretion because there was
no competent credible evidence provided at trial to determine that the award was
equitable.
{¶15} A court has discretion to award attorney fees in any post decree motion or
proceeding that arises out of an action for divorce. R.C. 3105.73(B); Baker-Chaney v.
Chaney, 2017-Ohio-5548, ¶ 45 (5th Dist.). R.C. 3105.73(B) states:
In any post-decree motion or proceeding that arises out of an action for divorce,
dissolution, legal separation, or annulment of marriage or an appeal of that motion
or proceeding, the court may award all or part of reasonable attorney’s fees and
litigation expenses to either party if the court finds the award equitable. In
determining whether an award is equitable, the court may consider the parties’
income, the conduct of the parties, and any other relevant factors the court deems
appropriate, but it may not consider the parties’ assets.
This decision lies within the sound discretion of the trial court and the award will not be
overturned absent an abuse of discretion. Id.; Roubanes v. Roubanes, 2014-Ohio-5163
(10th Dist.).
{¶16} The first consideration in awarding attorney fees pursuant to R.C.
3105.73(B) is whether the court finds the award is equitable. Lykins v. Lykins, 2023-Ohio-
4469 (12th Dist.). When determining if awarding fees would be equitable, the court may
consider the parties’ income, their conduct, and any other relevant factors. R.C.
3105.73(B). Because the award is based on equitable considerations, the court properly
may consider “the entire spectrum of a party’s actions, so long as those actions impinge
upon the course of the litigation.” (Citation omitted.) Patron v. Patron, 2015-Ohio-5404, ¶
23 (5th Dist.).
{¶17} After having determined that the award is equitable, the court must then
determine an amount that is reasonable. R.C. 3105.73(B); Hoover v. Kacyon, LLC v.
[Cite as Boyden v. Boyden, 2025-Ohio-158.]
Martell,
2018-Ohio-4928, ¶ 65 (5th Dist.). Whether the fees are reasonable is based on
the time spent on the matter and the hourly rate. Martell v. Martell,
2018-Ohio-4927 (5th
Dist.).
{¶18} In this case, Father has argued that the magistrate took factors meant to
determine if the amount was reasonable and improperly applied them to determine if the
award was equitable. He has claimed that there was no evidence that the award was
equitable. In support of his arguments, he reiterates that the magistrate could not have
considered the disparity of the parties’ incomes because there was no evidence of
Mother’s income. The trial court agreed with him. The trial court then held it to be harmless
error because the magistrate took into consideration that the motion did not require
advanced skill or knowledge to perform legal services, and that the magistrate reviewed
the billing statements and “the totality of the circumstances.”
{¶19} Defendant has argued that these considerations would go to determining
the reasonableness of the fees. The billing statements, however, could reflect the amount
of work that was required to defend the motion and turn into an equitable consideration.
From this, the court could conclude that the disparity in income was not the sole factor on
which the magistrate relied.
{¶20} It is important to point out that the trial court performed its own “independent
review in this matter.” It recognized that Father filed the motion to modify and that Mother
filed a responsive motion based on the Father’s failure to seek mediation pursuant to the
Shared Parenting Plan. It further noted that Father dismissed his motion to modify after
receiving the Guardian ad Litem’s report recommending no modification of parental time
and after Mother “spent a significant amount of time opposing” Father’s motion. The court
[Cite as Boyden v. Boyden, 2025-Ohio-158.]
determined that Father chose to voluntarily dismiss the motion right before trial and this
“caused [Mother] to incur significant attorney fees in defending against a motion which
[Father] determined at the last moment he should dismiss.”
{¶21} The court’s own record reflected considerations for the award of attorney
fees when taken together with dismissal of the motion prior to trial, including Father’s
multiple requests for continuances prior to trial. In defending the motion, Mother was
required to file responses and respond to discovery requests. Further, the Guardian ad
Litem’s report found that the current parenting schedule was meeting the needs of the
parents and the child. She commented on the willingness of Mother and the child to
accommodate Father’s work schedule and that any necessitated changes to the
parenting schedule were few. These factors were relevant and appropriate for the court
to consider in the totality of the circumstances.
{¶22} Given the record before us, we conclude that the trial court did not err as
matter of law or abuse its discretion in awarding Mother attorney fees. Father’s
assignment of error is without merit.
[Cite as Boyden v. Boyden, 2025-Ohio-158.]
Delaware County, Case No. 24CAF040026 9
CONCLUSION
{¶ 23} The judgment of the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas is
affirmed .
By: Delaney, P.J.,
Gwin, J. and
Hoffman , J. concur.
