Earlier this year, a High Court Judge ordered the wife in a divorce case to pay a significant proportion of the husband’s costs due to the very serious allegations of misconduct made against her. Here, Director of Costs at Beyond Law Group, Clint Nicholls, looks at how your conduct throughout divorce proceedings can impact the hearing and ultimately cost you.
In the hearing, the wife was found to have gained access to her husband’s confidential information, refusing to comply with directions and Court rules, misleading the Court and causing disruption in the Court, which was deemed to be at the most serious end of the scale and thus merited a costs sanction.
The costs of the proceedings between the parties totalled nearly £3m or almost one quarter of the matrimonial assets, a colossal sum. Costs were exacerbated by the fact that the wife had pursued a case alleging that the husband had further hidden assets which the Court rejected due to lack of cogent evidence.
This shows the need for very careful consideration in respect of the conduct of a case, and that the Court will not allow reckless expenditure by one or either of the parties, and that there could be large cost sanctions in play for one or both of the parties if the Court believes the actions of the parties to be disproportionate.
If you are effected by the conduct in divorce proceedings, or would like more information around how your conduct can impact proceedings, get in contact with our specialist team at McAlister Family Law at [email protected]
