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RCW 26.09.140

Payment of costs, attorneys' fees, etc.

Applied in 284 court decisions — leading case In Re Custody of Smith (2000)

Most recently applied in Bryce Michael French, V. Sarah Ann French (October 2024)

2011 c 336 s 690; 1973 1st ex.s. c 157 s 14.

How often courts cite this section

1974198019902000201020202024210
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

The court from time to time after considering the financial resources of both parties may order a party to pay a reasonable amount for the cost to the other party of maintaining or defending any proceeding under this chapter and for reasonable attorneys' fees or other professional fees in connection therewith, including sums for legal services rendered and costs incurred prior to the commencement of the proceeding or enforcement or modification proceedings after entry of judgment.

Upon any appeal, the appellate court may, in its discretion, order a party to pay for the cost to the other party of maintaining the appeal and attorneys' fees in addition to statutory costs.

The court may order that the attorneys' fees be paid directly to the attorney who may enforce the order in his or her name.

Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.