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NY Appellate Court Nullifies Attorney-Fee Provision

By ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |
September 27, 2006

For the first time in New York appellate history, an appeals court in Brooklyn declared unenforceable provisions of a prenuptial agreement that barred a spouse from seeking attorney fees. The decision is the first in which an appeals court had nullified part of a prenuptial agreement concerning attorney fees, rather than the whole agreement. Kessler v. Kessler, 2004-04773.

A unanimous panel of the NY.Appellate Division, 2nd Depart-ment, said its ruling was a matter of public policy, considering the wealth of the husband ' his assets are valued at nearly $5.6 million ' compared with the wife, whose assets are valued at $160,000. It stressed, however, that it was not commenting on all such provisions in prenuptial agreements. Each similar case should be reviewed individually, the court said.

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