Confused by my own solicitor

Hi all, hoping someone can advise,
my Decree Nisi was issued last Feb, ex was told to pay 75% of court fees. I've just found out he hasn't paid and my solicitor has instead charged the full costs to me. My solicitor sent my ex a letter in feb stating that the 75% costs had to be paid within 14 days but I've now discovered he never did. I in fact had to bring it to my solicitors attention!! Now my sol is telling me that if I want him to pay the 75% fees I need to go to the small claims court!!
Is this normal?? Should my sol not have insisted he pay the costs within 14 days as requested per her letter way back in Feb??
Totally confused as to why the judge ruled that he should pay 75% but my solicitor is now saying he only needs to if I take him to the same claims court??
Help

That sounds right to me. I am guessing if your solicitor continued to chase your ex, you would had been liable to pay for their time to do so.

If I were you I would make a claim asap. Based on my own experience, If you are successful in court, he would be liable to pay for the fees and also your travel costs.

Good luck!

If you instruct your solicitor to do work for you, you will be liable for their fees.

If a court subsequently makes a costs order against your ex, this allows you to recover some or all of the costs you have paid to your solicitor. It doesn't shift the liability from you to your ex.

Recovering costs when a costs order has been made will depend upon what the order says.

If the order is a specified sum e.g. £500 to be paid within 14 days - it is easy to apply to enforce (although only worth it if the paying party is good for it).

If the order says something along the lines of "the respondent to pay 75% of the petitioner's costs, to be assessed if not agreed" - this is more complex.

Once a costs order is made, you should take action to recover those costs within 3 months of the end of the action although there is little if any penalty in exceeding the time limit.

Charles