court fee remission refused- appeal?

wondering if anyone has any advice or experience of this? would be really grateful of any words of wisdom!

i filled in the form to apply for part-remission of court fees (with the solicitor's secretary as he was off sick) and this was submitted to court with my divorce petition. i have today received a letter stating that i don't qualify for any help. this is unexpected as i have been through the guidance notes and calculated that i would have to pay the first £240 only with the rest waived. i have triple-checked my calculations and am convinced that they are correct so i have decided to appeal.

i rang my solicitor and spoke to the secretary who said that i wouldn't be able to appeal, which i disputed as the guidance notes state that the decision comes with the right to appeal. she stated that they'd had no paperwork from the court to say why my application was refused, just a slip to say that i earn too much. she suggested i contacted the courts. the courts say that they have sent all the paperwork to the solicitors and are unable to give me any further advice on how to proceed.

spoke to the secretary again who says that i could apply again but she could give me no advice on how to appeal.

so my question is (and sorry it has taken so long to get around to it), shouldn't i just be submitting an appeal rather than applying again? i also note from the guidance notes that i should have submitted proof of my rent payments but i didn't (solicitor said i wouldn't need to): would not supplying this evidence have made a difference to the courts' decision?

many thanks in advance for any help you may be able to give.

Yes you can appeal but i think what the solicitors secretary is advising is that it would be pointless, i take it you made application with EX160, if so its all about numbers, if they say you earn too much its a done job unless they have made a basic mathematical error, which is unlikely as the calculations are computer generated.

Slightly confused, you have a solicitor which i assume is publicly funded if so the application fee`s will just be added to the bill so why apply for fee remission?.

Dukey, that is true if you have a legal aid certificate, but not under the Legal Help scheme, which is what sallyC will have is she has legal aid for the divorce itself.

Sally, in my experience, where the court does not receive a particular bit of evidecne they would usually write ti say that they need further evidence, rather than simply asy you are not eligable.

You can ask your solicitor to let you have back all the paperwork, and check whether there is a mistake - if so you can send the application back setting out what you consider the error to be.

If the problem is that something such as your rent has not been taken into account then the appropriate way forward is to reapply with the correct supporting diocuments, not to appeal.

TBagpuss, it's true that i am in receipt of Legal Help and so must either pay for or apply for remission of the relevant court fees. unfortunately, my original application and the original bank statements and wageslips that i sent in support of my application have gone missing, with the court insisting that they have been sent to the solicitor and the solicitor insisting that they have not received them. nobody is able to give me a definite answer as to why my application was refused.

i have checked my monthly income (£1578.99) against the allowable expenses (£1024.00) and my monthly disposable income is £554.99: the guidance form states that i have to pay a contribution of £225.00 therefore. not having to pay the other £115.00 would make a massive difference so i really feel that i should pursue this further.

i wish i had found the guidance notes and read them myself before filling the form in with the solicitor's secretary: i would obviously have made sure that all documents were submitted as required thinking back, i'm not convinced that my form was filled in correctly, either... will have to spend tomorrow trying to get replacement wageslips and bankstatements and try to convince my ex to sign a letter confirming how much maintenance he is paying me. ho hum.

many thanks for your help.

just an update on this. finally got a reply yesterday from the court stating that i DO qualify for part remission of fees. just taken my cheque to the solicitor for my £225 contribution (same as i had calculated- clever me) so hopefully my stbx will soon have his Petition and we can start getting things moving.

thanks for the advice!