Court Opinion

ID: 9570749
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:25:53.682838+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:15:58.555759
License: Public Domain

TEIGEN, Judge
(concurring specially).
I concur in the result but feel that the amount of attorney’s fees stated in the judgment, after a division of the property was effected, should be reduced by one-half of the amount of attorney’s fees allowed. The reason is simple. The law contemplates that where temporary alimony is awarded to prosecute the action, Section 14-05-23, N.D.C.C., quoted in the majority opinion, it should be paid before a division is made of the property. This reduces the amount of the assets for division by an amount equal to the amount allowed as temporary alimony necessary to prosecute the action.
In this case the trial court attempted to divide the property as nearly as possible on a fifty-fifty basis. However, this it did not accomplish because the husband is required to pay the temporary alimony awarded the wife to prosecute the action from the assets which he has left after the division is made. This makes for a differential of $3,000 in this case. It is, therefore, my opinion that the amount set forth in the judgment for this purpose should be reduced to the sum of $750.
ERICKSTAD, Judge.