re Rule 2.71 ancillary relief

Can anybody tell me what sort of conditions would warrant the divorce costs being awarded to me, the Respondent.

My ex husband has deliberately gone against what the Judge, at the Final Hearing, stated regarding a house we own for letting purposes.

The Order was that it would be sold and divided on a 70/30 split in his favour.

The ex wanted to throw out the tenants and move in himself, but the Judge verbally told him that if that happened he would be living in a house with no mortgage and no rent to pay, and could put off any prospective buyers as well, meaning that I would not get my designated share for a long time....if ever.

I have ended up with the FMH and a £260,000 mortgage ( which includes £120,000 on a remortgage to buy the other house as an investment property ).

The Judge allocated the ex a 2nd letting property as his house, in his sole name. It has a very small mortgage so I assume the Judge thought that at least he would be paying ''something''in the light that I now have to keep the FMH going on my own.

The Judge did not put his words on paper though....although my Barrister was there to hear it as well.

BUT....I cannot afford to have the Barrister again at a 2nd Final hearing this month. We are now having to go back and re-do the Final Hearing due to several errors and several points not given consideration on the last one. The Judge is only a Deputy Judge and I really think that, in a very complicated case like mine, he is just not up to the score.

The ex has now issued an eviction notice to the tenants to leave at the end of their tenancy term.....just a few days before Christmas....although they have not commited any tenancy crime and want to continue living there.

Would this be considered by the Judge to be something that would warrant ''bad conduct'' and would that be something I can use ( I''ll be doing this without any legal representative this time )to try to claim my costs.

All the information I have read is very vague about what would be determined as something a Judge would use to allocate costs to the other party.

Does anyboy know if I have a good case in the fact he is evictng innocent tenants ( without my permission, even though I have a share in the property ) for the purpose of moving in there himself ...while renting out the other house he was allocated and making a fat profit.

I''m confused and just do not know if it is something I can push on the day and get my costs awarded to me.

Of course the ex will deny the Judge said what he said ( back in May ) as it was not written on an Order....unfortunatley, just another mistake the Judge made on the day.

It looks like we are rich....no...the other properties came about because I had an inheritance that I put towards buying a lovely big house for us, and then we thought that remortgaging to get the other 2 houses would become investments for our old age as we did not have any private pensions.

I wish I had stuffed my inheritance in the mattress and kept quiet about it, now of course, as he has walked off with a 40% share of it.

But.....this rule of 2.71 does anybody know if I have a good argument to get my costs on the basis of the ex defying the Judge and causing me, and the tenants at the house alot of stress and upset????

Any advice would be appreciated. Thankyou.

It is fairly unusual for a deputy to hear a final hearing but there is no rule to say they can`t, its for the judge to recuse them self, not for you to question the judges qualification or experience.

Litigant conduct under rule 2.71 can only be an issue if you incur costs, representing yourself rules this out.