First and foremost, thank God this isn't about me. Secondly, no liability for responding attaches to the respondee or said respondee's representative(s) blah, blah, blah, blah. I just heard something 3rd-hand and it sounds like bullshit to me, thought I'd float it around here and see if anyone has experience.

There's a lot of "don't tell anyone *but*..." family drama that I'll spare you all but here's my bottom line question: Is it a requirement during divorce in Florida that whichever spouse makes more must pay for both side's lawyers/lega fees? I'm a Coloradan (thank God) and happily married (big ditto), so this is all foreign to me. Nothing would surprise me in our current culture but, still, that sounds like crap.

Anybody "in the know" care to chime in?

Thanks.

The analysis is "need and ability to pay." If spouse A can't cover the bills, but spouse B can, then B has to pay. Generally this means that it is more or less automatic where the disparity is significant, but judges actually do follow the analysis. If the requestor doesn't need help, he won't get it. If the "requestee" can't pay, he won't be ordered to. The amount ordered will be based on the ability to pay.

Thanks. I'll pass that along, in case it's helpful. Of course, I'll have to pass it to 'x' who'll have to casually mention it to 'y' without mentioning *me* because "no one's supposed to know that he knows what she's up to".... [puke]

Why do people always make things more difficult than they need to be?