Washington court broadens rules on divorce legal fees

Washington’s Court of Appeals has given trial courts more room to order a wealthier spouse to pay a poorer spouse’s legal fees, even when a prenuptial agreement says each side must cover its own costs. The ruling, filed on 29 October by Division Three of the Washington Court of Appeals, clarifies that judges are not limited to awarding fees for work directly related to parenting or child support. They may also award reasonable fees incurred in other aspects of the divorce, despite a prenuptial agreement containing a fee-waiver clause.

The court reached this conclusion while reviewing the case of a couple whose prenup required each spouse to bear their own legal costs in the event of a divorce.A prenup with a fee waiverIn 2018, the Washington couple signed an antenuptial agreement. At the time, the husband’s net worth exceeded $15 million, while the wife’s was about $175,000. In the prenup, they agreed to pay their own attorney fees in any dissolution or maintenance case.

They married in July 2019 and had a child. The wife was a stay-at-home mother for most of the marriage.