Claudia A. Perry, appellant, v. Alan W. Perry, respondent. (2011)

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York.

Claudia A. Perry, appellant, v. Alan W. Perry, respondent.

2010–09080 (Index No. 9399 /06)

Decided: October 18, 2011

PETER B. SKELOS, J.P. RUTH C. BALKIN JOHN M. LEVENTHAL L. PRISCILLA HALL, JJ.

Eric Ole Thorsen, New City, N.Y., for appellant. Johnson & Cohen, LLP, Pearl River, N.Y. (Amy M. Eisenberg of counsel), for respondent.

Submitted—September 26, 2011

DECISION & ORDER

In an action for a divorce and ancillary relief, the plaintiff appeals from so much of an order and judgment (one paper) of the Supreme Court, Rockland County (Garvey, J.), entered September 1, 2010, as denied her motion for an award of an attorney's fee.

ORDERED that the order and judgment is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs.

An award of counsel fees pursuant to Domestic Relations Law § 237(a) is entrusted to the sound discretion of the trial court (see DeCabrera v. Cabrera–Rosete, 70 N.Y.2d 879, 881). In determining whether to award such a fee, the court should “review the financial circumstances of both parties together with all the other circumstances of the case, which may include the relative merit of the parties' positions” (id. at 881). Here, the trial court providently exercised its discretion in denying the plaintiff's motion for an award of an attorney's fee.

SKELOS, J.P., BALKIN, LEVENTHAL and HALL, JJ., concur.

ENTER:

Matthew G. Kiernan

Clerk of the Court

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