Evidence, Practice and Procedure: Disproportionate costs and Children Act 1989 Sch 1 orders

Two Family Division judges have recently berated two couples for their disproportionate expenditure on funding their litigation. Both were financial remedy proceedings; though the issues involved in each were very different. Instinctively most family lawyers would agree with the judges on what was said of costs; though with the caveat for most that if the client instructs a lawyer to act in a particular way and provided that it is not unlawful then the lawyer must so act.

In Evans v Evans [2013] EWHC 506 (Fam) Moylan J dealt with proceedings involving relatively large amounts and few matters of legal principle fell to be decided. The parties were involved in proceedings to persuade the judge as to how to divide up the matrimonial assets. The case cost them both £2.7M that is 5-6% of their joint assets (this figure includes an earlier aborted trial...

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