In family law proceedings each party will usually be responsible for their own legal fees. However, in the recent case of OG v AG, when the Court was being asked to consider an application for costs, penalties were imposed against both parties for their litigation conduct and failure to negotiate.
The husband’s litigation misconduct lead to a significant costs penalty being made against him. However, in financial remedy proceedings the parties are required to negotiate openly and in a reasonable way. The wife’s failure to do so meant that she also suffered a costs penalty for adopting an unreasonable approach to negotiation.
A costs order of £328,020 was made against the husband, as a result of his conduct, but this was reduced by £50,000 owing to the wife adopting such an unreasonable approach to negotiation.
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