Court Opinion

ID: 9714679
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:42:45.317798+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:27.751851
License: Public Domain

Concurring and Dissenting Opinion
White, J.
I concur in parts I, II and III of the court’s opinion.
I also concur in much of what is said in part IV with respect to the discretionary nature of the court’s authority under IC 1971, § 31-1-20-1 (Burns Code Ed.) to make an order requiring the “husband to pay the attorney appearing for the wife ... a reasonable fee to be fixed by the court.” In a proper case I might even agree that that statute (now apparently replaced by IC 1971, § 31-1-11.5-6 [Burns Code Ed., 1973 Supp.]) authorizes the court to apportion be*292tween the parties the responsibility for paying the reasonable fee it fixes pursuant thereto. I cannot, however, agree that the court did so here. The form of the order and the finding on which it is based leave much to be desired in terms of compliance with the statute’s apparent requirement that the order to the husband be “to pay ... a reasonable fee to be fixed by the court”, but the $100.00 figure appears to be what the court fixed as a “reasonable fee”. The evidence on that issue “is without conflict and can lead to but one conclusion [that a reasonable fee is several times $100.00] and the trial court has reached an opposite conclusion.” Losche & Sons v. Williams & Associates (1948), 118 Ind. App. 392, 395, 78 N.E.2d 447. The order should “be set aside on the ground that it is contrary to law.” Pokraka v. Lummus Co. (1952), 230 Ind. 523, 532, 104 N.E.2d 669.
I fully concur in what is said in part V but suggest that the trial court should be expressly directed to determine whether the husband should be ordered to pay for the transcript of the evidence and the record. The present order is silent as to where the financial burden lies for providing the defendant-wife with those papers “without cost to the defendant”. As to the record this apparently means the county will lose the fees a non-pauper appellant would be required to pay. As to the transcript, either the reporter is donating her services or the county is paying her. Neither the county nor the court reporter is a party to this appeal so no one is before us complaining about that part of the order. Under the law as stated in the court’s opinion it seems to me that the court has as much “power and authority” to order the husband to pay for the transcript and the record as for the wife’s appellate level attorney’s fees. Under the facts found by the court such an order should have been made.
Note. — Reported at 315 N.E.2d 412.