Court costs against ex

[Justus77]

Hi, I wonder if someone can help me. I am taking my ex back to court for enforcement of a contact order that he has consistently and continuously breached. My solicitor had advised enforcement order which is what we are going to court for. Date in couple of weeks. My question is, can I ask for him to pay the costs of the order? I'm broke and desperate to see my children and be a part of their lives.

You can ask as part of your application and the judge will decide if it's appropriate.

If Judge makes the enforcement order, that's when they would consider costs. They'll probably be swayed by the fact that you've had to resort to this as your ex isn't abiding by the previous order.

I am not a solicitor but I dealt with civil court cases in my last job. More than once we got a costs order against the defendant because they had prolonged the process and therefore made us incur more costs than necessary. Not all our costs, just the extra bit.

Bear in mind that, if the judge does not make the enforcement order, and your ex asks for costs, you could have an order made against you if the judge decides you were being improper by making the application and forcing your ex to incur legal costs. We had that a couple of times where the judge thought our case was so outrageously bad that they ordered us to pay all the defendant's costs.

Costs orders are as rare as hens teeth in Children Act proceedings. More likely to get them in a pure enforcement case than any other kind of family case, but still a slim chance - worthwhile asking though.

You may be eligible for help with the Court Fee.

Thank you all. The breaches are consistent so I will ask for my solicitor to apply for costs. Just so exhausting especially when you're ex knows you dont have the money