California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Trolan v. Trolan, 243 Cal.Rptr.3d 264, 31 Cal.App.5th 939 (Cal. App. 2019):
"We apply an abuse of discretion standard to the trial courts decision granting ... fee requests payable from the trusts assets. There are limits to the scope of our deference, however, When the record is unclear whether the trial courts award of attorney fees is consistent with the applicable legal principles, we may reverse the award and remand the case to the trial court for further consideration and amplification of its reasoning. [D]iscretion must not be exercised whimsically, and reversal is appropriate where there is no reasonable basis for the ruling or the trial court has applied the "wrong test" or standard in reaching its result. A trial courts award of attorney fees must be able to be rationalized to be affirmed on appeal. " ( Donahue v. Donahue (2010) 182 Cal.App.4th 259, 268-269, 105 Cal.Rptr.3d 723, internal citations omitted.)
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