Case Name: Janis ALTMAN, Appellant, v. Andrew ALTMAN, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2004-05-19
Citations: 873 So. 2d 523
Docket Number: No. 4D03-2611
Parties: Janis ALTMAN, Appellant, v. Andrew ALTMAN, Appellee.
Judges: WARNER, KLEIN and GROSS, JJ, concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 873
Pages: 523–523

Head Matter:
Janis ALTMAN, Appellant, v. Andrew ALTMAN, Appellee.
No. 4D03-2611.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.
May 19, 2004.
Stephen Rakusin of Rakusin & Plotka, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for appellant.
Carin M. Porras of Gordon C. Brydger, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for appellee.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
We reverse the final judgment denying all attorney's fees to the former wife. According to the trial judge, the "main" reason for its ruling was that the former wife's attorney was her second husband, from whom she was divorced in 2002. The trial court was concerned that the obligation for fees was not a "legitimate debt" and that the former wife would "not be ultimately responsible" for the fees. This was not a valid basis to deny all fees. See Love v. Love, 370 So.2d 1231 (Fla. 4th DCA 1979) (stating, in a divorce case, that "[a]s to an award of attorney's fees, we see no reasonable basis on which to distinguish a client of a Legal Aid Society from one who retains private counsel").
The case is remanded to the trial court for reconsideration of the request for attorney's fees under the principles of Rosen v. Rosen, 696 So.2d 697 (Fla.1997).
WARNER, KLEIN and GROSS, JJ, concur.