Costs, they must think I am crazy!

Did the travel costs include travel time or was that charged separately?

If it was included bear in mind that the journey must have taken at least 40 mins each way and they probably started the clock when they got up to get their coat.

Not justifying it, just saying!

I really feel for you Sweetheart.

My marriage was also a long one.

Maybe that was my mistake...Became to comfotable/to complacent.....

What animals do you have?

I have 2 Border Collies.

Both very very different personalities.

One of them could be rehoused no problem.
The other one is a gorgeous dog.
BUT v. highly strung.
In the house with the family he''s great. Get him outside & he is a totally totally diff. dog...
He would never ever be able to be rehoused.

I am determined to try & keep them both.Hubby loves them both to bits, but he says that as he works F/T it would not be fair on them....
Well hey, what do other F/T working dog owners do?????

Its the old blckmail ploy...

I''m v.v. early days down this road.
Yet what do I find my self doing????

DELAYING TATICS.
Did not show him for a couple of days the Estate Agents details of our house.He wanted a signature for the Go Ahead of the Sale...

Have to sign to agree for my Sol. to rep. me.
AGAIN.
I''m still putting it off....

Not that its going to get me any where but hey ho....

(((((hugs)))))

For what its worth as far as i`m concerned it was the judge that muddied the waters in your case, ill say no more about that though.

All professionals are expensive, a month ago i needed some work done on my extension roof, i know the roofers well, they sent a lad maybe 23-24 years old, the job took four hours with about £60 in materials, and the bill?, £480+vat, the same time i needed a plumber who ive known for 20+ years, one hour no parts £120+vat and that was mates rates.

Last night i shredded some old accounts from 10 years ago, back then my accountant was charging £170 per hour plus the vat and she was cheap.

A year ago me and the missus had a consult with a barrister, she traveled to us, about 100 miles but she was going to make the day of it and stay with a friend, so the consult lasted one hour, we got a three page report a couple of weeks later, the cost, £2000+vat, for one hour traveling and maybe an hour to write the report.

I save the best for last though, my partners lad had to see a Harley street consultant, a guy with a very good reputation, she and her lad traveled in, waited in a posh room, got walked in, the consult lasted 15 minutes, what was the bill? are you ready? if your drinking tea put it down.....................ready?.................................................£5000, i sh!t you not £5000 for one piece of paper and 15 minutes.

You pay for the time of a solicitor, whether this is advising you in person, preparing documents or travelling to and from a meeting.

The mileage, train fares, bus fares, parking etc. are all additional expenses incurred on top of the time spent. This is the same as a builder charging for time (labour) and additional expenses (materials).

If the barrister had had to travel, an additional charge would have been made. The question is, would it have been cheaper for the barrister to travel to the solicitor''s office?

Another question is, could the solicitor have instructed a barrister closer to the office? A conference for £700 + VAT is medium-range expensive - are there any barrister''s chambers nearby that have similar grades of barrister?

38 miles is a long way to travel for a conference but that all rather depends upon which part of the country you are in.

I''m in Birmingham where there are two very large sets of chambers so travelling is 6 minutes on foot (more like 10 but we don''t split hairs). Quite often the barrister will attend our office as it is so close.

One thing that is worthy of mention is that a very plush set of solicitors offices will cost money to buy/rent and run - somebody has to pay for this.

A solicitor who charges £300 per hour working in a large firm with plush offices is likely to cost more than twice the amount that a same-grade solicitor charging £150 per hour in a medium sized firm as the extra expense will buy a more sophisticated time recording system.

The upside to instructing a larger firm is that they usually have more resources so which can be finite in a small firm i.e. there may be constant delay if the secretary is also the receptionist and the office junior.

Charles

Thank you Dukey & Charles,

Dukey you have certainly put it in perspective for me and a good thing you told me to put the hot cuppa down, 5K! now that is extortion

I was in a state of shock, and thats putting it mildly as it was just a portion of this months bill, with prep etc it was just short of 3K

The actuary is now preparing a report so I had better get use to shocks!

I have seriously thought about going LIP but worried the ex''s legals will trample all over me and then there is the Judge

Thank you everyone for your support.
NWTT x

I know your case quite well, its such a shame it has come to this.

I would personally worry if you take this on yourself, i`m not going into detail on an open forum.

For me the basics are simple, an order exists, your ex is supposed to pay £x per month, he stopped, a judge was in my opinion very unhelpful and in fact gave your ex hope, no more on that.

The fact is your ex is loaded by any standards, you are not, you need that money, its not for hair do`s and Prada hand bags you need it to live, with your ex`s money he will turn up with an expensive barrister, your a very bright woman with an academic history that frankly which frankly makes me feel like a knuckle dragging track suit wearing moron, but how will you deal with the stress, will the barrister intimidate you, given your eloquence will the judge give you less discretion.

The biggest worry is you really need this money, if you lose it it will change your life, so is it worth paying to save it?, do i like paying for barristers, no of course not, have i needed them in the past yes, and the two grand was worth it, even if not though i would have always thought should i have engaged the barrister, would the outcome have been different.

If it all goes wrong at least you know you gave it your best shot, i can`t see how it will though, and ive thought long and hard about what get out of jail card he could pull out of the hat, i can`t think how it could be done, nor would i be at all surprised if he faces costs.

I know you have talked with LMM, hes forgotten more about this issue than i know so stick with him.

As ever Dukey, you have hit the nail on the head.

Thank you for your kind comments, though never describe your self as a "knuckle dragging track suit wearing moron", we love you

Time for the donker stick me thinks!

NWTT x