Does a judge have authority to grant counsel fees to a spouse who has made an application for counsel fees after a judgment of divorce contains no provision relating to alimony?

[263 N.Y. 71]There is nothing in Lake v. Lake, supra, in conflict with this conclusion. In that case the judgment of divorce contained no provision at all relating to alimony. Six months after the entry of final judgment, application was made among other things to insert such a provision. As the statute (Code Civ. Proc. 1771) then stood, there was no authority to do that. Such authority came only with the enactment of chapter 240 of the Laws of 1925 (now Civil Practice Act, 1170). With no authority, either statutory or by reservation, to deal with alimony after judgment, the court was without jurisdiction to grant counsel fees and properly so held.