White v. Bowen

Almand, Presiding Justice,

dissenting. I dissent from the ruling that the attorney for the wife, who is awarded permanent alimony with a specific amount as attorney’s fees, cannot institute in his own name contempt proceedings against the husband for failing to comply with the decree as to the payment of attorney’s fees. In my opinion the ultimate beneficiary of the award of attorney’s fees is the attorney who procured the award for the wife, and he therefore has such an interest in the award that he can institute contempt proceedings in his own name against the husband for failure to comply with the award. “Where a party is authorized to initiate contempt proceedings based on violation of an order, he must meet two requirements: (1) he must have a legally recognized interest in the order, for instance, as the party for whose benefit the judgment or order was made, or as a successor in interest to such party, and (2) he must be aggrieved, that is, injured, by the alleged violation.” 17 AmJur2d 74, Contempt, § 81. “A creditor prima facie entitled to participate in the fund so withheld is a proper party to move an attachment against the defaulting receiver; and in the absence of any such motion, the judge presiding, on information derived from any source, should cause proper inquiry to be made as to the facts, and, if found to be true, take proper steps to compel the return of the money.” Tindall v. Westcott, 113 Ga. 1114 (39 SE 450). See Orr v. Orr, 141 Fla. 112 (192 S 466), which held that the attorneys who had represented the wife in her divorce action could maintain contempt proceedings against the husband for his failure to comply with the order requiring him to pay attorneys’ fees. See also Annotation, 61 ALR2d 1083, “Who may institute civil contempt proceedings.”