Under the Domestic Abuse Assistance Act, the abusive party shall be made to pay all court costs, attorney fees, and other costs related to the litigation, including, but not limited to, costs for evaluations, expert witnesses, enforcement or modification proceedings, and costs for medical or psychological care of an abused party or child of the abused party (if the care is necessitated by the abuse).1 An abuser may even be required to pay costs and attorney fees if the victim is the non-prevailing party on some aspects of the litigation.2 Moreover, attorney fees should be awarded even when not specifically pled.3
- 1La. R.S. 46:2136.1(A).
- 2Cf. Jarrell v. Jarrell, 35,837, p. 6 (La. App. 2 Cir 2/27/02), 811 So. 2d 207, 210 (interpreting a similar provision of the Post-Separation Family Violence Relief Act); Barak v. Saacks, 2021-0756 (La. App. 4 Cir. 10/12/22), 2022 WL 6944282, at *14, writ denied, 2022-01734 (La. 1/11/23) (citing Jarrell).
- 3Dean v. Burkeen, 2022-563 (La. App. 3 Cir. 3/8/23), 2023 WL 2394754, *14 (affirming trial court’s award of attorney fees under the parallel provision of the Post-Separation Family Violence Relief Act, despite petitioner not having pled for them).