JOHN DILLON BROOKS v. KRISTI A. BROOKS

Little Rock, AR - Divorce lawyer represented Appellant appealing the attorney's fee awarded.

The circuit court has the inherent power to award attorney's fees in domesticrelations proceedings. Hargis v. Hargis, 2019 Ark. 321, 587 S.W.3d 208. Our appellate courts

have generally recognized the circuit court's superior perspective in determining whether

to award attorney's fees due to its intimate acquaintance with the record and the quality of

services rendered. Id. The decision to award attorney's fees is accordingly a matter within

the circuit court's discretion. Id. Absent a clear abuse of that discretion, an award of

attorney's fees will not be disturbed on appeal. Id. Discretion is abused when it is exercised

improvidently, thoughtlessly, and without due consideration. Id.

John does not assert that due process required that a hearing be conducted on Kristi's

request before the circuit court would have the authority to award attorney's fees. Indeed,

our supreme court has held that due process does not require a hearing on a request for

attorney's fees in the context of domestic-relations proceedings. See Hargis, supra. The focus

of John's appeal is his argument that the attorney's affidavit is too vague and does not explain

or detail what the eighteen hours in legal services were for, such that he was deprived of a

full and fair opportunity to rebut and defend against Kristi's motion. John concludes that

the circuit court's attorney's-fee award "was unsupported by any meaningful evidence” and

that this deprived him of due process. We disagree.

The affidavit explained that the attorney had been in practice for seventeen years,

had experience in domestic-relations cases, charged $200 an hour, and had "expended 18

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hours of time in trial preparation, deposition time, responding to pleadings, exchanging

discovery, and meeting with my client regarding this matter prior to the hearing on August

6, 2019.” Kristi's attorney provided the hours that he worked, the rate for those legal

services, and the activities for which he charged Kristi, all in an affidavit. This affidavit was

adequate evidence against which John could form an adversarial response and on which the

circuit court could rely to set a reasonable attorney-fee award. See McCabe v. Wal-Mart

Assocs., Inc., 2019 Ark. App. 566, 591 S.W.3d 335.

Moreover, this circuit court presided over the divorce proceedings and these postdecree matters, so it was acquainted with the record and the parties, the issues being litigated,

and the quality of legal representation Kristi received. The circuit court entered its order

eleven days after John had submitted his response to Kristi's motion, and the circuit court

awarded approximately half of what was requested.1

In order to reverse an attorney-fee

award, an appellant must show that the circuit court acted "improvidently, thoughtlessly, or

without due consideration.” Hankook Tire Co. v. Philpot, 2020 Ark. App. 316, 603 S.W.3d

614. John has not made that showing with respect to the attorney-fee award in this case.

Affirmed