(Court of Protection, Peter Jackson J, 17 April 2012)

In proceedings where a declaration of lawfulness in relation to the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment was sought, the Official Solicitor applied for a costs order that the NHS Trust pay half of his costs, amounting to £16,000.

The general rule in Court of Protection proceedings was that there should be no order for costs. However, long-standing authority demonstrated a practice where the starting point for costs orders in relation to the Official Solicitor was to award half of his costs unless there was good reason to depart from that rule. There were no special factors in this case so the application was granted.