Husband appealed the court’s allocation of property and debt. A divorce decree was entered.
It was husband’s job in court to prove that his 401k, ESOP, or stock options had a nonmarital value. It was not wife’s job to do that. The Court did not find that husband proved that his valuable assets were his nonmarital property.
Wife spent $150,000 on attorney fees. She wanted her husband to pay for these. The trial court did not order husband to pay her fees.
Wife argued that husband had more money that she did. So, he should be paying her attorney fees.
The Appellate Court restated that wife had been awarded $3,575,000. She can pay $150,000 in attorney fees from this money.
Wife also argued that husband had dragged the case out. He had kept trying to prove that assets were his nonmarital property.
The court reminded her that she had failed to produce certain documents when ordered to. She changed her position during trial. She asked the court to ignore testimony of her own expert. She had not made the case any simpler by her actions.
The Trial Court and Appellate Court both found that it was fair that wife should pay her own attorney fees.
In re Marriage of Faber, 2016 IL App (2d) 131083.
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