Opinion ID: 1597330
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: whether the chancellor was manifestly in error in refusing to award attorney's fees to wife.

Text: Shirley contends that James' motion for modification was a baseless motion. As a result she argues that she should have been awarded attorney's fees and that the chancellor erred when he denied her request for these fees. James, on the other hand, submits that his motion was not baseless or without justification and that the chancellor did not err in denying Shirley attorney's fees in the instant case. The standard of review this Court employs with regard to the issue of attorney's fees on a motion to modify a divorce decree was discussed in Cumberland v. Cumberland, 564 So.2d 839 (Miss. 1990) wherein the Court stated: The standards for an award of attorney's fees on a motion to modify a divorce decree are much the same as in an original action. J. Bunkley & W. Morse, Amis on Divorce and Separation in Mississippi § 5.08 (1957). Our law vests the Chancery Court with considerable discretion and the Court's findings on the issue will not be disturbed unless manifestly wrong. Carpenter v. Carpenter, 519 So.2d 891, 895 (Miss. 1988); Milam v. Milam, 509 So.2d 864, 866 (Miss. 1987); Devereaux v. Devereaux, 493 So.2d 1310, 1314 (Miss. 1986); Kergosien v. Kergosien, 471 So.2d 1206, 1212 (Miss. 1985); Trunzler v. Trunzler, 431 So.2d 1115, 1116 (Miss. 1983); McKee v. McKee, 418 So.2d 764, 766 (Miss. 1982); Walters v. Walters, 383 So.2d 827, 828 (Miss. 1980). Cumberland, 564 So.2d at 844-45. See Hammett v. Woods, 602 So.2d 825, 829 (Miss. 1992). In addition, this Court has said: When the husband files a petition against his former wife in which he is unsuccessful, he is generally assessed with attorney's fees. This Court has said that when a former husband brings his former wife into court: [s]eeking, without justification, alteration of his liability to her from a Court decree fixing it, [he] should pay for her an attorney's fee. Otherwise, he could sue her so often as to impose an oppressive burden on her allowance in resisting his repeated applications. Cumberland v. Cumberland, 564 So.2d 839, 845 (Miss. 1990); Gresham v. Gresham, 199 Miss. 778, 785, 25 So.2d 760, 762 (1946). It is also generally the law that the award and amount thereof of the attorney's fees is discretionary. Martin v. Martin, 566 So.2d 704, 707 (Miss. 1990); Craft v. Craft, 478 So.2d 258, 265 (Miss. 1985). Gregg v. Montgomery, 587 So.2d 928, 934 (Miss. 1991). See Gresham v. Gresham, 199 Miss. 778, 25 So.2d 760, 762 (1946). In her direct examination, Shirley testified that she owed her attorney $2,683.75 for defending this action, excluding the fees incurred at the hearing. She testified that this amount represented 36 3/4 hours of work at a rate of $75.00 per hour. Finally, she stated that she had not paid her attorney anything in this action and had no funds with which to do so. James had no basis on which to bring his claim that he was entitled to a reduction of his monthly child support obligation. As a result, Shirley was haled into court to defend this action without sufficient justification. This Court holds that she was properly entitled to an award of attorney's fees in the instant case and that the chancellor was in error in denying her such fees. Thus, this Court reverses and remands this case to the Chancery Court of Leflore County for a determination of the appropriate amount of attorney's fees to be awarded to Shirley both for the action in the lower court and on appeal.