Opinion
2002-03077
Submitted January 14, 2003.
February 4, 2003.
In an action for a divorce and ancillary relief, the plaintiff appeals, as limited by his brief, from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Woodard, J.), dated March 25, 2002, as granted the defendant's motion for an award of an interim counsel fee in the sum of $200,000 and ordered that such fee be paid from a specified account.
Sawyer, Davis, Halpern Demetri, Garden City, N.Y. (Jay Davis and Jill Altara of counsel), for appellant.
Blank, Rome, Tenzer, Greenblatt, LLP, New York, N.Y. (Norman S. Heller and Stephen McSweeney of counsel), for respondent.
Before: DAVID S. RITTER, J.P., GLORIA GOLDSTEIN, DANIEL F. LUCIANO, ROBERT W. SCHMIDT, JJ.
ORDERED that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, with costs, and the motion is denied.
The Supreme Court should not have granted the defendant's motion for an award of an interim counsel fee given the lack of adequate documentation regarding legal services already rendered (see DRL § 237; Darvas v. Darvas, 242 A.D.2d 554; Cronin v. Cronin, 158 A.D.2d 447; Goodson v. Goodson, 135 A.D.2d 604).
In light of our determination, the plaintiff's remaining contention concerning the source of payment for the fee is academic.
RITTER, J.P., GOLDSTEIN, LUCIANO and SCHMIDT, JJ., concur.