What is reasonable for court courts?

Apologies if someone has already posted something similar.

I have been petitioned for divorce and they have asked for the costs, including the solicitor''s costs to be paid by me.

That seems a little unfair to me and I suggested that we go half on the court fees, but meet the costs of our solicitors ourselves. I pointed out that I have zero income (from work), that I am not claiming benefits (I wouldn''t know where to start) and although I have some assets (rented property from years back) I have savings only which are rapidly diminishing. My ex has a part-time job, so at least some income.

My solicitor has advised that we would usually have to pay this, simply because the other side kicked off the Petition. Without debating what type of injustice that is (but feel free to throw comments in if you think it will help) I am staring in the face goodness knows what by way of cost on their side.

They have suggested that I pay a flat thousand pounds towards these costs. My solicitors says the alternative is to object to paying the costs and ask the judge to decide. They will invariably point out that I have assets and that my lifestyle does not point to me having limited savings. I can only guess that they base this on me taking a lot of holidays this year but, if I''m honest, I just needed to get away with the one thing in my life which brings me happiness - my child. Luckily, we have been able to enjoy quite a few holidays together this year.

In a nutshell, what do you good people think? Should I bite the bullet (and the injustice) and agree to pay the contribution? Or should I take my chance and explain my case to a judge?

Thank you so much for any help. Really, I mean that. I''m struggling like hell with all this and just cannot see life at the end of the tunnel. It all seems so unnecessary and adversarial.

Thanks.

Hi... On what grounds is the Petition ? I would attend court at the Nisi if you are at that stage..! it costs nothing to attend but you need to follow the rules to do so !.. I did this and the judge ordered 50/50 costs..you don''t need to have a solicitor there to do this..just yourself and your reasons for your request !..L

Hi, you could make a proposal to cover some of the costs and see if that is accepted.

Well they have already proposed that, with the flat £1000. I don''t know how much it could be. Seems a gamble, but also doesn''t seem fair, given that I have no income.

I''m in the same situation where my stbx is claiming all costs against me so I will attend degree Nisi stage to try and prevent this from happening. She also tried the same trick with mediation, said she would attend but only if I pay all of the costs involved. She believes she can go through a divorce costing her nothing and just pushing all costs onto me.