Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

337 So. 2d 408

Docket No. 75-940.

Benitez v. Benitez

Jesus BENITEZ, Appellant, v. Rafaela BENITEZ, Appellee.

District Court of Appeal of Florida

Decided September 24, 1976.

District Court of Appeal of Florida · decided 1976-09-24

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“for further proceedings consistent with this opinion”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 720 So. 2d 266 - Rodriguez v. Campbell

Relies on 167 So. 2d 256 - Lyle v. Lyle · 211 So. 2d 243 - Ortiz v. Ortiz

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1976-09-24

How this case has been cited

Cited by 7 later decisions — most recently January 2006

7 state decisions

301976198019902000decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1*409 Robert T. Gilligan of Black & Gilligan, Dania, for appellant.

¶2Norman D. Zimmerman, Pompano Beach, for appellee.

¶3PER CURIAM.

¶4We have considered the points raised by this appeal and find no error except in the award of attorney's fee. The trial court's award of $1,750.00 to appellee's attorney was done without proper evidence to support the fee awarded. The only evidence was the testimony of appellee's attorney and his invoice for services. Whatever amount is fixed as attorney's fees in a divorce action must be supported by competent substantial evidence. Ortiz v. Ortiz,211 So.2d 243 (Fla.3d DCA 1968). The self-serving nature of testimony given by an attorney who performed services for which an attorney's fee is sought, precludes the court from making an award based solely on that attorney's testimony. Lyle v. Lyle,167 So.2d 256 (Fla.2d DCA 1964).

¶5The portion of the final judgment awarding $1,750.00 attorney's fee to appellee's attorney is reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. The remainder of the final judgment is affirmed.

¶6MAGER, C.J., ALDERMAN, J., and WILLIAMS, W.C., III, Associate Judge, concur.

/337/so2d/408 · .json · Public domain