costs

ok so quick question.

Received a letter from her without prejudice saying that she will not contest the grounds of the divorce and that if i do not employ sols she will agree to go half on the costs eg, the court costs, my questions are

1. Why are they suggesting this (am I being too suspicious)
2. Presume that I will not have to pay her half of the costs
3. Will I therefore have to pay for the Consent Order in its entirety?

Finally she has suggested family mediation to move our issues forward (its all getting a little difficult around the children - unfortunately)what are peeps opinions on this. We are not talking atm and haven't for sometime so wondering what the meetings will be like

i think you defo need to talk to a sol. personally I dont thisnk sharring sounds a good option - they must be working for some one and it looks like that is her.
You should try mediation, as it could work, plus it wont look good to a judge if you didn't.
it is defo better if you can agree between you.
good luck.

1, Don`t agree you will not consult a solicitor even if all matters are agreed you will need one for the consent order,

2, The cost in question are petition £300 absolute £40, often these are shared,

3, Often the applicant pays for the consent order (wiki do one for £179) but there is no hard and fast rule, you could ask for half, worth a try.

Dukey

That's great many thanks for that Dukey, I'll remind them of the cost for the absolute and state that I will pay for the consent order.

Any thoughts on mdeiation I'm rather scepticle as I'll probably be percieved as the man with the full time job loads of money blah blah blah and she will do her normal crying game and say that she has nothing although I have nothing extra to give

not that I have any experience with mediators but....... I think your crazy if you don't at least try it. This is a damned expensive game so if you can get a step forward paying them rather than a sol you should. Also I believe that judges like it if you try to resolve stuff without them.
They are trained proffessionals who sit nicely on the fence, referee and keep you on the subject.
If you go and it ain't for you what have you lost?

xx

Hello

Mediation is always a good idea but you both need to be able to talk and be prepared for some give and take, mediators charge less than solicitors and are neutral unlike your respactive solicitors, think of it like this if it works you save money and the money saved is more for you both to share when its all over.

Some members on this site have spent 30-40-50k on legal fees some even more and i know from talking many regret the way it worked out, learn from our collective mistakes and have a good think about it can`t hurt to try


Dukey

I would definately try the mediation route especially on child matters. On financial matters it sllows you to see what the other party is thinking is fair.

In my casse I offered mediation and the judge was very critical of my ex-wife and her sols for not trying that route before pursuing the court route. I don't know if it had any real impact on the outcome except that if there are winners and losers (rather than just losers) I was the winner.