—Supplemental judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Marylin Diamond, J.), entered August 28, 2001, inter alia, denying defendant husband equitable distribution with respect to plaintiff wife’s acting career, •awarding defendant maintenance of $18,000 for one year, and denying defendant counsel fees, unanimously modified, on the law and the facts, to award defendant maintenance of $18,000 per year for three years, to grant defendant counsel fees of $25,000, and otherwise affirmed, without costs.
While an award of counsel fees is within the discretion of the trial court (see DeCabrera v Cabrera-Rosete, 70 NY2d 879 [1987]), plaintiff is in a clearly superior financial position. Defendant submitted documentation of attorneys’ fees in excess of $25,000, and the record supports the finding that an award of attorneys’ fees is required to ensure counsel for defendant. (Charpie v Charpie, 271 AD2d 169 [2000].) We therefore award defendant $25,000 in counsel fees, inclusive of work performed on this appeal. We have considered the parties’ other claims for affirmative relief and find them to be without merit. Concur — Buckley, P.J., Mazzarelli, Andrias, Saxe and Friedman, JJ.