(correction: the litigant in person rate is now £19 per hour)
That would certainly pass muster. The first part of the bill would be a narrative to describe what went on and there would be a chronology. This could simply be:
\"The parties were married on [date] and the Petitioner filed for divorce on [date]. The Petitioner applied for decree nisi which was issued on [date] along with an order for costs to be assessed is not agreed. The decree absolute was issued on [date]. This bill details the Petitioner's costs incurred as litigant in person and rate of remuneration claimed is £18 per hour.\"
(I’m assuming you won’t serve the bill until the decree absolute is issued as technically that ends the proceedings and you are then entitled to serve the bill)
For reference the short letters that your write to accompany documentation can be claimed at one unit which is 6 minutes i.e. 10% of one hour.
Similarly short telephone calls (if you made any, these would probably be to the court) of 6 minutes or less can be claimed at one unit.
These short items are described as ‘routine’ meaning that they take less than 6 minutes to complete and you need only identify to whom you send them e.g.
*The court*
3 routine letters out
2 routine telephone calls
*The Respondent*
2 routine letters out
If the call last more than 6 minutes you can claim one unit for each 6 minutes *or part thereof* - this means that a 5 minute call can be claimed at one unit and a 7 minute call can be claimed at two units. The same is true for time spent on documents so your 98 minutes can be claimed at 102 minutes (17 units / 1.7 hours). This also makes the calculations easier.
As a litigant in person you can claim up to two-thirds of the amount that a solicitor would claim to do the work. So, a divorce typically takes 3.5 hours which at £200 per hour is £700 - you can claim around £467 or 24.5 hours. That's the maximum you can claim rather than the amount that would be allowed.
Some of your times look a bit excessive to me but I work in the law and have a head start as I’ve seen thousands of divorces over the years. If you have no legal knowledge you have to learn the legal process before engaging in it and that is permitted which is why you are only allowed £19 per hour. As judges don’t see these types of claim
It’s stupidly complex and could easily be resolved with a fixed fee tariff but the law is slow on these types of things and legal costs are an absolute minefield.
Charles