In Re Marriage of Perry

After successfully moving to be joined as a party to this marital dissolution action in order to seek custody of her grandson, appellant Mary Jane Schnepf engaged in a prolonged, bitter and expensive legal battle against the child’s father. Following lengthy discovery and 14 days of trial, the court decided the child would remain in father’s custody, with Schnepf continuing to have visitation with the child, and ordered Schnepf to pay the following: the portion of the compensation and expenses of counsel appointed by the court to represent the child that was attributable to “claims made by [Schnepf] in this action”; attorney fees and costs incurred by her former son-in-law as a result of Schnepf’s claims; and the costs of counseling for the child. Schnepf appeals from these orders.

In the published portion of this opinion, we address Schnepf’s contentions that (1) the trial court had no legal basis for ordering her to pay the cost of court-appointed counsel for the child incurred to address Schnepf s request for custody; (2) the court erred in ordering her to pay the attorney fees and costs incurred by her former son-in-law as a result of Schnepf s efforts to' obtain…