PLUNKETT VS. PLUNKETT (DIVORCE PROPERTY & ALIMONY)

Key holdings

Practitioner summary

On the appellant wife's motion for an allowance of $250 in costs and expenses and a $500 attorney fee on appeal, the court granted the motion in part and denied it in part. The requested costs (Supreme Court filing fees, appeal bond, and clerk's and reporter's transcript and record-preparation fees) had already been incurred and met; because an allowance of this nature may be granted only prospectively, the request for costs was denied. Blouin v. Blouin, 66 Nev. 137, 206 P.2d 608. As to counsel fees, the record and opening brief were complete, the reply to the respondent's brief would be short, and preparation for argument would comprise only review of work done; the remaining function was presentation of oral argument and the associated travel from Las Vegas to Carson City. The court ordered the respondent to pay the appellant's attorneys $200, payable within thirty days of counsel's receipt of the order given the respondent's station on Guam. The order was without prejudice to further orders on costs and fees in the disposition of the appeal on the merits, and the appeal would stand in abeyance until payment unless the appellant elected to proceed. Caye v. Caye, 66 Nev. 78, 203 P.2d 1013.

In plain language

This is an interim order in a divorce appeal, decided before the merits. The appealing wife asked the Nevada Supreme Court to order her husband to pay $250 in costs and expenses and a $500 attorney fee to help her pursue the appeal. She supported the request with her affidavit; the husband opposed it. The court denied the request for costs. All of the listed costs - filing fees, the appeal bond, and the fees for preparing the transcript and record - had already been incurred and paid, and this kind of allowance can be granted only going forward, not to reimburse expenses already met. On attorney fees, the court looked at what work remained. The record and opening brief were done, the reply to the husband's short answering brief would be brief, and preparation for argument would mainly be a review of work already done; the only substantial remaining task was presenting oral argument and traveling from Las Vegas to Carson City to do it. For those items the court ordered the husband to pay the wife's attorneys $200. Because the husband was stationed at an Air Force base on Guam, he could pay within thirty days of his counsel receiving the order. The order was without prejudice to further cost and fee orders when the appeal was decided, and the appeal would stand in abeyance until payment unless the wife chose to proceed anyway.