Solicitor Trying It On?

Thanks very much Charles for your insightful reply.

Yesterday I received a reply to my refusal to accept thier figures.

It states that they note that I acknowledge that I have been ordered by the court to pay the £551 towards their client''s costs of the divorce. I have no problem agreeing to pay that but have never been told personally by the court that I have been ordered to pay it!

They have then gone on to state that following discussions with their client they have amended what they would want me to pay half of, described as ''implementing the financial agreement''.

Now those words, ''implementing the financial agreement'' are written in the medaitor''s report. However, this is not what was agreed and I have a recording of a phone call to the mediator, reminding her that the only thing I agreed to pay was half of the drafting of the Consent Order, which would be half of about £300.

However, they are asking for half of that AND fees assosciated with drafting the first incorrect consent order, drafting the latest one that they have sent me, and then letters sent to me and my wife plus an 18 minute call to her to discuss all this.

I have to decide what to do, hopefully with some further info from this forum.

Do I just pay half of the costs they are asking for, which would be £438 from me, to get things moving OR stick to my guns and only offer to pay half of the consent order at about £150, but what could the consequences be? I''m thinking that with the latter, fees would obviously increase and could I be forced to pay even more by a court order?

You are being more than fair in your proposed compromise. The usual rule of the court in family proceedings (aside from the divorce costs which have been sorted) is that each party bear their own costs.

You could make the offer, state that this is an act of conciliation and as the matter is to be dealt with by consent, they should know that making any payment towards costs is more than reasonable.

Charles

Thanks again Charles. I''m trying to be a decent person and accept that I ought to pay half of the costs of the Consent Order, given that only one solicitor can draw it up. But feel that my wife is being rather greedy (as she has been in other matters) in trying to get me to pay for anything else.

I would like to follow your advice in offering to pay half of the CO only and note that you state each party usually bears their own costs. Having never done this before it is slightly worrying not knowing what else her solicitor COULD do to try to get me to pay more. Is there anything that they can try, or would it not be financially feasible for them to pursue it any further?

Just to clarify:

The divorce costs can usually be claimed form the Petitioner as is the case here. You have settled upon a figure to pay so you can draw a line under this.

The consent order costs are part of the costs of the financial proceedings (ancillary relief/financial remedy - call it what you will) and each party should bear their own costs.

You appear to have offered to pay half of the drafting costs which you have determined to be £150 (half of £300). This is reasonable in the circumstances and you had absolutely no intention of writing a blank cheque for your wife’s solicitor.

You should now offer to pay the £150 or for the usual rule to apply i.e. each party bear their own cost. This would mean that your wife pays her own costs and you pay your own (such as they are as you are not incurring cost from the content of your posts).

The solicitor is trying it on. There is no means to seek costs from you unless there is an offer and acceptance which included a payment of costs from you to your wife. However, the terminology is crucial and if you were misled in any way or the solicitor failed to spell out what was to be included in those costs, I find it difficult to conclude that you can be pursued for anything more than you considered to be the correct figure.

Charles

My wife''s solicitor has broken down her costs at my request.

Can you tell me please what ''implementing terms of the consent order'' consist of, for which she states it will take 1 hour of time to deal with.