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- The mother applied for costs, arguing that the father had acted unreasonably in only conceding the application for summary return at lunchtime on the first day of a three-day hearing. The father's representative pointed out that in a matter such as this, costs did not automatically follow the event and the court had a broad discretion. In Lieven J's view, if either party had been prepared to act more reasonably and take a more consensual approach, costs and court time could have been saved, but it would not be appropriate to depart from the general approach that in family proceedings involving children no order for costs is generally made. Judgment, 29/07/2020, free
- The couple had been together, unmarried, for just over ten years and had two children. There had already been three trial judgments given in separate actions consequent on that breakup, leading to costs orders against the female partner totalling about £90,000, none of which had been paid or were likely to be paid. This new Chancery claim arose out of allegations that the male partner, in his capacity as director of a company in which both parties had held shares, had run substantial parts of it on a cash in hand basis. He applied to strike out or dismiss the claim, and for an extended civil restraint order (CRO) to prevent his former partner making further claims or applications against him without permission. HHJ Parfitt, sitting as a judge of the High Court, struck out the particulars of claim and the claim form on the ground that taken together they impeded the just disposal of the proceedings – they provided no basis for the case to be understood, defended or tried – and did not comply with the rules regarding statements of case. He also struck out the claim on the grounds that it sought to reopen matters decided in previous claims and otherwise failed to set out a cause of action with a reasonable chance of success. An extended CRO was justified, on balance, but it would not extend to family proceedings and it would exclude any application to have an existing limited CRO set aside. Judgment, 24/07/2020, free
- Solicitor and own client assessments of a solicitor’s fees under section 70 of the Solicitors Act 1974 used to be rare beasts. It used to be possible for solicitors practising in family law to undertake their entire career, without suffering the indignity of a challenge to their fees by their own clients. Article, 24/06/2020, free
- The husband (“H”, 53) and wife (“W”, 50) had been married for nearly 22 years and had three children together, aged 21, 19 and 14 at the time of the hearing. Since their separation in June 2018, they had embarked upon ‘ruinous and recriminatory financial remedy proceedings’ [1]. There had been 13 oral hearings, including two FDRs and an aborted five-day trial, and four applications by H for permission to appeal disposed of on paper by the High Court and Court of Appeal. The only liquid asset of any substance was the proceeds of sale of the parties’ family home (“FMH”), in the sum of £630,000. The combined legal costs were £594,000 – 94% of the proceeds of sale from the FMH. The difference between the parties’ offers was only £191,000. It was ‘hard to express what a calamitous waste of resources’ the litigation was [3]. Article, 12/06/2020, free
- The father sought an order for the mother to pay one half of the costs of the expert witnesses instructed in the case. The child's care had been transferred from the mother to the father, and the mother had declined to engage in the therapy required by the court and thus contact had not yet been resumed. The mother opposed this application on the grounds that she could not afford to pay a one-half share, and that she did not appoint the parental alienation expert, nor the other professionals involved, nor agree to their instruction. Keehan J said that the latter argument was "totally misconceived": the court had considered their instruction to be necessary and had given permission for their instruction. Keehan J was not persuaded that the mother did not have the means to pay the costs sought by the father. She was ordered to pay £2,783.60 forthwith and the remaining balance in 16 instalments of £500 per month. Judgment, 05/06/2020, free
- Investigations revealed that the husband had misled the court about the true scale of his unencumbered liquid funds, meaning that the factual footings of a previous judgment were faulty. A new hearing was conducted on Zoom. Mostyn J revised the freezing order, to a total sum of £200,000, and made further costs orders against the husband. A late challenge to the quantum of those costs was rejected. The costs would be assessed on the indemnity basis due to the husband's misconduct. Judgment, 16/04/2020, free
- Ms Negahbani was in the process of trying to obtain financial support from Mr Sarwar, who denied that they had been married and that he was father of her child. Lieven DBE J had made a Legal Services Payment Order to cover the costs of Ms Negahbani's legal team at the hearing of two of his appeals. He did not pay the sum required, despite having ready access to extensive funds. The appeals were thus automatically dismissed. An eventual application for relief from sanctions was refused. Fair trial rights are subject to the appropriate conduct of litigation, and a litigant who deliberately breached court orders stood at risk of his applications being struck out. Judgment, 07/04/2020, free
- The husband had sought to set aside a decree absolute and a financial consent order in proceedings involving what was described as "frankly shambolic and unacceptable case preparation", leading to the loss of a full court day and the case being part-heard. The starting point as to costs was set out in FPR 2010 rule 28.1: the court may make any order as to costs "as it thinks just". As a set-aside application this was not within the definition of "financial remedy proceedings" and so rule 28.2 applied rather than rule 28.3. Mr Recorder Allen QC decided that the wife should pay 80% of the husband's costs, and costs were to be assessed on the indemnity basis. Her conduct in dishonestly obtaining a decree of divorce and a financial order had taken the circumstances of this case out of the norm. Judgment, 19/03/2020, free
- An assessment of whether the husband had an outstanding needs claim which the wife should meet. The husband had no realistic prospect of meaningful employment. Cohen J held it would be proper to provide an award of £325,000 to meet the husband's needs for an income and a further £10,000 for a car replacement. However, the case had been conducted by the husband in a manner that Cohen J found to be irresponsible and unreasonable. The wife did not seek her costs from the husband, and Cohen J saw no reason why she should pay the husband's unreasonably incurred costs. Inclusive of costs of £150,000, the husband would receive a total award of £485,000. Judgment, 27/01/2020, free
- The Court of Appeal recently gave judgment in Read v Panzone & Anor [2019] EWCA Civ 1662, an appeal concerning s37 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. The Court gave significant warnings to first instance judges about the dangers of making findings of fact on alternate bases: although judges may be tempted to take this ‘belt and braces’ approach, it may simply muddy the waters and confuse the issues for the parties. News, 06/12/2019, free