Another family Court Case, Another Family Judge Despairing About Legal Costs
We’re conscious that we regularly post about the need for legal costs to be made proportionate to the assets and issues in each case. But the reason for the regular posts is because examples of wholly disproportionate spend on family court litigation just keep coming.
Rather than hearing from us, here’s an extract from the judgment of His Honour Judge Hess in the recent case of YC v ZC [2022] EWFC 137 (17 October 2022).
“Both parties were legally represented before me at a high level in terms of forensic skill and assiduous hard work; but it has come at a huge cost. The wife has incurred total legal fees of £463,331. The husband has incurred total legal fees of £159,044. The total amounts spent by the parties, but in particular by the wife, in this not particularly large or complex case, are depressingly disproportionate and I shall make some further comments below on this subject.”
“The court should be slow to allow the grossly disproportionate spender (and the solicitors representing such a person) to feel that there is no check on legal costs spending. A proportionality assessment taking into account the costs being incurred in the context of what is in reality at stake in the dispute is surely an essential requirement at all stages and an incumbent duty on solicitors acting in these cases to which they should address their minds fully and regularly. Indeed, the Protocol annexed to FPR 2010 PD 9A expressly requires parties to have in mind: ‘The principle of proportionality must be borne in mind at all times. It is unacceptable for the costs of any case to be disproportionate to the financial value of the subject matter of the dispute.’”
It’s easy to counter with the argument that clients want particular points run in a certain way, but surely all legal professionals owe a duty to save clients from themselves where that is needed. It’s much harder and riskier for lawyers to work on a fixed fee basis, but it provides total transparency for clients and enables them to budget for divorce. Which is why we’re committed to it, whatever the assets in the case.
Author Name: Editor
Published content by The Divorce Surgery Editorial Team.
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