HANNAH VS. HANNAH (DIVORCE)

Key holdings

Practitioner summary

On the wife's (appellant's) motion for an order requiring the respondent to pay $400 toward the costs of prosecuting her appeal from a decree of divorce awarded the husband and from the order denying her motion for a new trial. The respondent did not contest the motion or appear. Counsel's affidavit established that the appeal had been perfected, that the wife was unable to pay the costs of preparing the record, and itemized the required sums ($100 transcript, $25 certified copies, $25 filing fee, $250 attorney's services), and that the respondent had the means to pay but refused and had removed to Oakland, California. The court held that where an appeal has been perfected, it has jurisdiction to allow an appellant wife her expenses of appeal in a divorce suit even though no transcript of the record has been filed (Lamb v. Lamb, 55 Nev. 437, 38 P.2d 659). It disallowed the separate $25 filing fee (only one filing fee is chargeable on an appeal, presumed already paid on the motion) and reduced the $250 attorney item to $100, since that request covered only getting the transcript and bill of exceptions properly before the court and did not preclude a later motion for additional compensation for briefing and argument. The court ordered the respondent to pay a $100 attorney's fee and $125 for other appeal expenses.

In plain language

After a divorce was granted to her husband, the wife appealed and asked the Nevada Supreme Court to order him to pay $400 toward the cost of prosecuting her appeal. The husband did not contest the motion or appear. Her lawyer's sworn statement said the appeal had been properly perfected, that she could not pay the costs of preparing the record, and it itemized the needed sums: $100 for the reporter's transcript, $25 for certified copies, $25 for filing, and $250 for attorney's services. It also said the husband had the means to pay but refused and had left Nevada to live in Oakland, California. The court held that once an appeal is perfected, it has power to make an allowance for the wife's appeal expenses even though no transcript of the record has yet been filed. It then trimmed the request. It disallowed the separate $25 filing fee, reasoning only one filing fee is charged for an appeal and she had presumably already paid it. And it cut the $250 attorney item to $100, because that sum was only for getting the transcript and bill of exceptions before the court (she could ask for more later for briefing and argument). The court ordered the husband to pay $100 as an attorney's fee and $125 for her other appeal expenses.