Moses v. Moses
Court name not provided in source
1 Fam. L. Rep. (BNA) 2604 (July 22, 1975)
Dr. Lawrence Moses (defendant) and Mrs. Moses entered divorce proceedings, with Mrs. Moses represented by family friend and attorney Mr. Fox (plaintiff), who expected Dr. Moses to pay his fees; over 56 days, Fox spent 121 hours on the matter, much of it in frequent personal and phone conversations with Mrs. Moses at all hours covering both the divorce and personal and professional matters. Fox eventually sought to withdraw due to the excessive demands on his time, having achieved only a modest $275 weekly support award with the divorce still unresolved; he billed $4,842 in fees at $40 per hour plus $112.10 in expenses, and the trial court awarded him the full amount, which Dr. Moses appealed.
Whether counsel for the wife in a divorce proceeding is entitled to payment in full for his services where counsel expends an inordinate amount of time on the matter owing to the wife being unduly needy and expects that his fee will be paid by the husband.