Background
Kelsey Sly and Remel Barbee, who married in 2015 and have three children, separated in February 2024. Their divorce proceeded to trial in August 2025 on custody-related issues, the marital home, attorney fees, and guardian ad litem fees after the parties resolved other matters by stipulation.
The domestic-relations court ordered equal week-on/week-off parenting time and required Sly to pay $15,610, half of Barbee’s outstanding attorney fees. Sly appealed, challenging the fee award and asserting that procedural and evidentiary rulings denied her a fair trial.
The Court’s Holding
The Tenth District affirmed. It held that the trial court acted within its discretion under R.C. 3105.73(A) in finding a partial fee award equitable. The trial court considered the parties’ similar incomes, limited assets apart from the marital-home proceeds, lack of temporary spousal support, and conduct that it found increased litigation costs, including Sly’s and her counsel’s conduct during discovery, mediation, and trial.
The court also rejected Sly’s fair-trial arguments. Any failure to record the post-trial in-camera interviews of the children was harmless because a guardian ad litem had consistently conveyed the children’s wishes and Sly would not have been entitled to review an interview transcript. The court further upheld exclusion of Barbee’s pre-marriage Michigan felony conviction as irrelevant and found Sly had not shown an abuse of discretion in limiting testimony about alleged domestic violence.
Key Takeaways
- A divorce court may award reasonable attorney fees when equitable, including where a party’s conduct unnecessarily increases litigation costs.
- An unrecorded child interview did not warrant reversal where the children’s interests and wishes were represented by a guardian ad litem and no substantial right was affected.
- Hearsay exceptions for public records and criminal judgments do not make irrelevant evidence admissible in a civil divorce proceeding.
Why It Matters
The decision underscores the broad discretion Ohio domestic-relations courts retain in allocating attorney fees based on litigation conduct. It also emphasizes that custody-related procedural objections require a showing of prejudice, particularly where a guardian ad litem has already presented the children’s views.