High Court Judge says ‘steps must be taken’ to curb legal fees on divorce after couple’s projected legal bills could hit £8m
Following a recent divorce case Mr Justice Mostyn has advocated for greater costs control in family cases.
In Xanthopoulos v Rakshina Mr Justice Mostyn described how the parties had already incurred costs of more than £5.4m in less than two years since the husband filed his petition. The total bill is expected to reach between £7.2m and £8m.
Mr Justice Mostyn commented:
“In my opinion the lord chancellor should consider whether statutory measures could be introduced which limit the scale and rate of costs run up in these cases … Alternatively, the matter should be considered further by the Family Procedure Rule Committee. Either way, steps must be taken.”
Arguments for both parties exceeded the prescribed 10-page limit and were filed late, with Mr Justice Mostyn commenting that the preparation for the latest hearing could “only be described as shocking”. Despite rules restricting parties to a bundle of 350 pages of text, the judge was provided with four bundles coming to a total of 1,878 pages.
Mr Justice Mostyn said that the amounts incurred were difficult to accept “even in a conflict between the uber-rich”. In this case the dispute was over two London properties worth £5 million each and a sum of £11 million in a Coutts account. The costs incurred in arguing over these sums were said to be “beyond nihilistic”, by Mostyn.
Mr Justice Mostyn continued:
“This utter disregard for the relevant guidance, procedure, and indeed orders is totally unacceptable. I struggle to understand the mentality of litigants and their advisers who still seem to think that guidance, procedure, and orders can be blithely ignored.”
Mr Justice Mostyn said he “struggled to find the language that aptly describes the exorbitance of the litigious conduct of the parties”.
Yet again calls are made for systemic change. Divorcing couples, no matter how wealthy, should have a joint budget for divorce. We operate a fixed fee service so couples know, from the get-go, what the cost will be and can take responsibility for the costs they incur on legal advisors. The time for change is long overdue.
You can read the full judgment here: Xanthopoulos v Rakshina [2022] EWFC 30 (12 April 2022) (bailii.org)
Author Name: Editor
Published content by The Divorce Surgery Editorial Team.
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