Opinion ID: 1847228
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: whether the lower court erred when it denied janis voda's request for attorney's fees

Text: ¶ 29. The party seeking attorney's fees is required to clear some evidentiary hurdles before fees may be awarded. If the record is insufficient to show an inability by the requesting party to pay attorney's fees, it would be an abuse of discretion to award them. Johnson, 650 So.2d at 1288-89. The record is devoid of evidence that would show Janis was unable to pay her fees. In fact, the record simply shows her unwillingness to liquidate or otherwise use the largest asset the court awarded her, the lot valued at over $25,000, to support herself and her children. There is no evidence that Janis's attorney's fees are reasonable since she simply states she has incurred fees totaling $4,800. While we have held in other cases that the lower court can decide attorney's fees on remand, there is no reason to remand this case and no reason to disturb the lower court's ruling that each party should pay his or her own attorney's fees. ¶ 30. The chancellor's decision was equitable. All the evidence points to this conclusion. Each item was not distributed equally, but this is not required. This Court has the ability to weigh the factors for alimony and property distribution to decide if there was an abuse of discretion even when the chancellor did not include his balancing of these factors on the record. We find satisfactory proof supporting the learned chancellor's ruling. Therefore, the judgment of the Jackson County Chancery Court is affirmed. ¶ 31. AFFIRMED. PRATHER, C.J., and McRAE, JAMES L. ROBERTS, Jr., SMITH and WALLER, JJ., concur. BANKS, J., dissents with separate written opinion joined by SULLIVAN and PITTMAN, P.JJ.