opinion on whether we can appeal a court order

[goingwiththeflow]

a bit of background .. DH and Ex girlfriend joint owned ( mortgaged) a flat , they used to pay mortgage jointly then split up 3 years ago , he lived in flat and paid mortgage for a year , due to job changes she then moved in (he moved out obviously!) and took over paying mortgage, it was decided to keep in joint names as otherwise the changing of the mortgage would mean the payments would go up.
Discussions started last year about sorting it out and nothing got much further than getting flat valued and Ex saying she wasn't willing to pay DH out etc etc
Then two months ago DH get solicitors letter saying its going to court , he was away with work abroad as usual and 'decided' in his 'head in the sand ' way that if she wanted to get the court to decide then so be it, completed the acknowledgment paperwork didn't contest anything, didn't seek legal advice and then went back out on a 6 week work tour abroad as normal.

Today received court documents saying property & mortgage will be signed over to Ex ( as expected) BUT that DH (as he has made 'no attempt to resolve the situation') is liable for all costs that are 'summarily' £3900 !!!

DH away until end of month, is back for a long weekend (bank holiday) then away again for 6 weeks ..can he contest this ? and if so can he do so without physically being in the country ??? Can I go to a solicitor eventhough it isn't my name on documents etc

We can't afford to pay this ...can the court force us to pay in a lump sum/have to sell car etc etc ..don't know how we will manage at all and VERY VERY angry at DH

any advice very welcome , have emailed DH (time difference) but do not trust him to handle this at all and will just ignore it hoping it will go away ..so its down to me to kick his ass ..please help

[mumblechum1]

Oh dear. He's being punished for not conducting the case responsibly. If he'd seen a solicitor at the outset, almost certainly they'd have come to some sort of agreement.

He can apply to be heard on the issue of costs but going to court to argue about costs is going to cost more again, and possibly more than he may get knocked off.

He needs to immediately get in touch with the solicitors, ask for a breakdown then make an offer. Otherwise he'll get a CCJ against him.

You could go to a solicitor but as he's the client, they'll want to have some dirct contact with him and will need to get his ID etc before they can do any work for him.

The thing I'd say, though, is that £3.9k is a hell of a lot for an uncontested hearing which probably took about 10 mins.

[mumblechum1]

Assuming a certain number of letters, time spend preparing the application, meeting with the ex, attending court etc - I can't see that being more than 10 hours work as there's been no correspondence/negotiation with your dh, so probably 10 hours work (£2k ish), VAT (£400), court fee (£240, I think - not sure), maybe offer around £2.5k?

[goingwiththeflow]

thanks mumblechum ....on first contact with her solicitor he did tell them he worked away out of UK so wouldn't be able to attend court etc, but obviously should have done a bit more than that!!

There is a breakdown of costs somewhere in the paperwork , will have a look and let you know how its racked up .. is it worth appealing then? or is it the case that the court costs would end up being the same ... he is back on a friday eve of the Bank Holiday weekend so likelihood of getting an appointment is unlikely ..


What sort of payments will a solicitor take?..monthly ? , we have no lump sums of cash, rent a property and own a clapped out car .. if it goes to CCJ will they look at his income and our outgoings and take a payment schedule from that?

head is spinning ..soooo mad at him..and I can't do anything!! aaaaghhhh . she has ended up with the property and he pays all her costs because he didn't get his act together

[goingwiththeflow]

okay had a look at the breakdown ..it is made up of two solicitors (!) hourly rates at £190 per hour 6 hours preparing documents, 4 hours travel and waiting at court, then broken down with part hours of phone calls/emails and 'working' on case ..with £150 court costs ...

[mumblechum1]

TBH he was a bit silly not to write to the court as soon as he received the notice of hearing and ask for an adjournment. Or instruct a solicitor to negotiate a deal in his absence.

But that's water under the bridge. The time charged for travel and waiting should be half the usual hourly rate (you don't need to use your brain to wait). So maybe room to knock of two hours of work there.

I'd be inclined (off the top of my head & based on just the info you've provided) to offer maybe £1.5k at this stage then be prepared to go up to around the £2/£2.5k stage. You/he must do this in writing and keep the court informed as well, otherwise the court don't know that there are negotiations and the other side could just bung in an apln to enforce the order and the court will go along with it because no one has told it what's going on.

If you can't pay it all in one go, remember that his ex has actually paid this money herself, so although the sols are acting on her behalf, ultimately it's up to her to say whether she can afford to take your dh's money by instalments when she's already out of pocket.