Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

493 So. 2d 52

493 So.2d 52

11 Fla.L.Weekly 1831

Docket No. 85-2843.

Warnhoff v. Warnhoff

Georgia E. WARNHOFF, Appellant, v. Frank A. WARNHOFF, Appellee.

District Court of Appeal of Florida

Decided August 20, 1986.

Rehearing Denied September 22, 1986.

District Court of Appeal of Florida · decided 1986-08-20

Relies on 382 So. 2d 1197 - Canakaris v. Canakaris · 464 So. 2d 542 - Marcoux v. Marcoux · 348 So. 2d 592 - Patterson v. Patterson

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1986-08-20

How this case has been cited

Cited by 7 later decisions — most recently February 2001

7 state decisions

40198619902000decided

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*53 S. Robert Zimmerman of S. Robert Zimmerman, P.A., Pompano Beach, for appellant.

¶2Deborah Marks of Deborah Marks, P.A., North Miami, for appellee.

¶3STONE, Judge.

¶4This is an appeal from an order, pursuant to section 61.16, Florida Statutes, denying an attorney's fee award to the wife in a post-judgment contempt proceeding for nonpayment of alimony.

¶5We recognize that among the factors for the trial court to consider in the exercise of its discretion to award fees is the contempt of the noncomplying spouse. Planes v. Planes,477 So.2d 42 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985); Patterson v. Patterson,399 So.2d 73 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981). It is also true that it is not necessary that one spouse be completely unable to pay in order for the trial court to order that the other spouse pay attorney's fees. See Canakaris v. Canakaris,382 So.2d 1197 (Fla. 1980); Patterson v. Patterson,399 So.2d 73 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981). However, the financial resources of the parties, including need and ability to pay, remain among the factors for the court to consider. See Patterson v. Patterson,348 So.2d 592 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977). See also McIntyre v. McIntyre,434 So.2d 61 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983); Andrews v. Andrews,409 So.2d 1135 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982). Here, the ability of the husband to pay an attorney's fee award was in dispute and the appellant had assets from which her attorneys could be paid. The trial judge had the discretion to find that the wife failed to meet her burden of proof in these respects. Child v. Child,474 So.2d 299 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985).

¶6The appellant has failed to show on appeal that there was a lack of substantial competent evidence in support of the court's order and has failed to meet her burden. The record does not support a finding of an abuse of discretion. See Marcoux v. Marcoux,464 So.2d 542 (Fla. 1985); Canakaris v. Canakaris,382 So.2d 1197 (Fla. 1980).

¶7AFFIRMED.

¶8ANSTEAD and DELL, JJ., concur.

/493/so2d/52 · .json · Public domain