Cost of court

[FollowerOfKushiel]

I'm asking for a friend. She has her conditional order (I think it's called, the equivalent of the old decree nisi), but she and her ex can't agree on the financial split at all. In the meantime she's stuck in the same house as him and struggling hugely. He seems unaffected by it, and is possibly deliberately spinning it out for financial reasons.

She can't move out (she can't work much at all right now due to her health and her child's additional needs, but has just a little too much in savings to get help with rent, but if she spends her savings on rent she'll never be able to buy again). So she's desperate to get this done and finished, but her ex is refusing to meet her half way with the negotiations at all.

Her solicitor has advised that he's being really unreasonable given the circumstances, and that court would likely give her a notably better outcome than he's offering, but she's scared of both the financial cost of court (it's not a very big financial pot to begin with) and the time stuck in the same house. Also the longer the delay, the worse her financial situation - she's burning through savings, but can't apply for UC as he earns too much.

Can anyone give an idea of the cost of court, and the time it would take to go down that route, and any ways of reducing either of the above?

The only way to reduce is self representing. I would highly recommend it!

Court isn’t expensive but solicitors are!

has she issued Form A, ie started divorce proceedings? This might focus his mind. It’s also the only way to get things moving if he’s digging his heels in.

I believe that she may be able to claim UC as they are now separated, if they genuinely live as separated. Not sure though.

Hi @Mumof3confused
If she self represents, would she have to actually go to court in person, or can it be done just by filing to and responding to paperwork? Her ex is an arsehole, I think she'd find it very difficult to face him in a conflict sort of situation like that, and he would absolutely take full advantage.

She hasn't filed any forms with the court yet, just got the first part of the divorce granted online, then they've been negotiating through solicitors since last spring with a view to sorting out a financial consent order, but getting nowhere.

Her solicitor is suggesting pushing it to court, but she's worried about the cost.

I'll suggest she looks into UC again, thank you.

The other commenter is right, it's mainly the solicitors that lead to a huge legal bill. It's the same reason I couldn't afford it either because it's crazy how high the costs can become.
It really is possible to self represent though, I did it myself with free online help guides (I'll link them here - https://iamlip.com/). If your friend really needs a solicitor's help though, she can always use these free resources online to help fill out forms or see what her options etc without a solicitor's help so they're only paying the solicitor for what is necessary.

Hope this could help!

I would take the solicitor’s advice. Dragging it out to drain your finances and mental health is a tactic. He can do this FOREVER. Issuing proceedings and going to court doesn’t mean they they can’t settle part-way through.

Your friend can manage the paperwork for court herself and use her solicitor in the background for help/information/drafting letters. It’s just that’s he won’t be paying them a fortune to open emails, and to carry out simple admin tasks.

She can also get a direct access barrister to represent her in court.

In court, she can also ask for things like a screen, separate waiting rooms etc for protection from ex.

I absolutely agree, the easiest and fastest (and also cheapest!) way is to try to agree peacefully on everything. My sister filed for divorce using materials from this resource https://onlinedivorcetexas.com/ (she didn’t turn to them for help, she just used their guides)

You can find a lot of useful information on this issue on the internet, so just google it.