Statutory Charge that will apply??

I recently got divorced and the last part of my divorce was done via legal aid for anchillary relief.

At the FDR my barrister said he would ask that a charge not be put on my house for legal aid. I am not sure that I understood this very well. I have today received a letter from my solicitor which states that she will be:

sending me a bill of costs .... that you will have to meet the costs under the statutory charge that will apply.

Can someone please explain this to me. Have I misunderstood?

Also in the Consent Order it says:

No order as to costs save for a detailed assessment of the wife's publicy funded costs.

What does this mean??

Thanks,

Hi Lea,

I'm no expert, but my understand is:

Legal Aid used when in AR needs to be paid back (all or in part) from the financial settlement you receive.

If the financial settlement is in the FH, then a charge is put upon it (basically this postpones the repayment)

As he has stated No Charge to be put on the FH, then you'll be expected to pay the Legal Aid from the settlement you've received.

No Order to Costs mean you're footing your own bill from the settlement.

An Order for Costs means the costs are ordered to be paid by the other party.

WR

This explains statutory charges

www.legalservices.gov.uk/docs/news/Statu..._briefing_290307.pdf

No order as to costs save for a detailed assessment of the wife's publicy funded costs.

This means that there is no order for costs to be recovered from the other side but the court is making an order that there be a detailed assessment carried out by the court if this is applicable.

A detailed assessment is where the solicitor prepares, unsurprisingly, a detailed bill of costs showing all work that has been carried out under the terms of the public funding certificate. The bill should be sent to the client who can approve or challenge the bill. If unchallenged, the bill is submitted to the court and the bill is provisionally assessed by a judge who will reduce or disallow any items that are deemed to be unreasonable of excessive in amount.

If the client challenges the bill, the assessment process is the same except that a hearing is listed and the client has to attend the hearing and argue against the bill (and their solicitor). In most cases, the main point of dispute is that "the other side increased by costs by being difficult" but that does not affect your solicitor's entitlement to fees.

The Statutory Charge is a 'first charge' on any money or property recovered or preserved as a result of the assistance provided by the public funding certificate. Cash is taken into account first so you can't have that and defer the charge on the property unless the Legal Services Commission gives express permission to this course of action.

Where the Statutory Charge is deferred simple interest is accrued at the current rate of 8% per annum.

Charles