statutory charge help

hi all ,
i was wondering if anyone could help me with a question ?
i''m the Respondant in a divorce,my wife and i have split amicably, we have sorted who gets what etc, there is some equity left in the house,but the outstanding debt cancels that out ,i have agreed to take on the debt in return for her not wanting anything off the house.
she has got legal aid to pursue a divorce ,supposedly with no cost to me.
got a letter from the court (D8),question 6 asks if i dont intend to defend the case then do i object to paying the costs of the proceedings , does this mean i have to pay if i say yes ,and if so how much ?
got a letter the day after from her solicitor saying ''our client will only ask you to pay costs of the divorce proceedings if the statutory charge arise,which would only arise if me or my wife gain or preserve a property'', does this mean i''m getting another cost ?, i haven''t got a solicitor ( i was seeing one at the citezens advice, but i have to return the court letter within 7days,and i can''t get an appointment before then).
any help or insight would be very helpful, thanks in advance for taking the time to read this.

Yes you object on the basis that costs are agreed, what the solicitor is saying is that if she must pay the legal aid back they will ask for the reasonable costs of the divorce.

It''s all very standard but solicitors don''t right in plain English, in short you have little to worry about, if you want a full explanation call the wiki line tomorrow and they will explain.

thanks for the reply , the only thing is do i agree and sign the court letter regards agreeing to costs ? , as i only have a few days to return it, and by reading through the forum it can be a real pain if i object to it (dragging out,extra costs etc).i''m running out of time to get any other response from her solicitor. and have you any idea of these ''costs'' i referred to in original post, and is it a common thing for the solicitors to have to pay legal aid back ? , cheers again

Stating no i don`t wish to pay does not drag it out even if the other side demand you do.

If the statutory charge does apply they are saying we want the money back, so in other words if she gets cash or property as a settlement she will have to pay back the legal aid in most cases, the costs are limited, with legal aid it should be no more than £1000 in most circumstances.

Its usual to deny UB for example say no to costs but still sign the D10 allowing the divorce.

Repayment of costs in relation to the divorce can only occur if the statutory charge arises in financial proceedings.

The extent of the dispute between you, which has now been resolved, will determine whether the statutory charge will apply.

If the charge does apply, repayment of legal fees is unavoidable i.e. the solicitor has no control over this.

The sort of order you should agree to is ''petitioner''s costs of the divorce to be paid by the respondent in the event that the Legal Services Commission Statutory Charge arises and the Petition becomes liable for her costs''.

However, there is a good chance that the court (or the solicitor) will not accede to such an order as the solicitor has a duty to recover the costs expended from the public purse. Public funding is not a cheap and free way for parties to get divorced.

If you have a letter from the solicitor making an offer not to enforce a costs order unless the Statutory Charges arises, you can agree to this and hold them to it.

Of course, if the Statutory Charge does arise, you will have to pay the costs anyway so you may at least try to agree the amount of those costs. The Petitioner may have been exempt from court fees in which case £500 is a reasonable amount.

Charles

hi , did as you advised and sent reply to court saying costs were agreed , just got decree entitlement form back and it states ''decree approved and to an order that Respondant pays costs of Petitioner if statutory charges arises'', i haven''t had any other letters from her solicitor or from court,have they disregarded my statement or is it a clerical error ?, is there any way to restate or appeal at this late stage ?
thanks for any replies ,
cheers , lee