Court costs

[Js79]

Hi everyone, first of all great page with loads of useful information on here

Iv been denied access and it looks like I’m going through the whole court procedure.
From start to finish how much roughly did it cost people??
Just need to sort my finances and take out a loan to cover it

Thanks

 

[bakedapple]

Court application (C100) I believe is £400. As for the rest, it depends on your appetite.

What is quite common on this forum is to self represent for the first few hearings (and use this forum as a resource) but spend on a direct access barrister for the final hearing. It may be that if the Cafcass report is clear cut, then there is no point in spending on an expensive direct access barrister; as quite often, once Cafcass have made their recommendations, the outcome is pretty much set. The family courts are set up to enable you to self represent as money should not be a barrier to getting access.

This way, if agreement is made early, it only costs you £400. Costs will be a lot more if allegations are made, as you may want legal representation earlier in the process as these can be more of a minefield.

Direct access barristers can cost between £2k and £8k for a 1 day final hearing. You do hear of people spending £100k on trying to get access, but quite often that is the solicitors filling up their days with billable hours and creating fuel for the fire.

 

[Js79]

Thanks for your reply.
What is it you mean when you said cafcess report is a clear out?

£100k wow, no wonder why some dads give up!

 

[bakedapple]

"clear cut" not "clear out". Sometimes, Cafcass will make a strong recommendation as to what the living arrangements will be; the judges rarely go against such recommendations. That said, I managed to get an additional "option" in my favour on the day (by option, I mean an additional night by which the children can visit should they wish to but no obligation for them to do so).

The first hearing is one to see if you are at the start line. The purpose is:
1. To establish that the judges have jurisdiction - e.g. you're not living overseas etc...
2. To establish what information the judges need to make a decision. It is here that they should order a Cafcass report, and any fact findings should there be allegations.
For mine, no judges even turned up to the first hearing - just a legal adviser on zoom. This only lasted an hour. Glad I didn't waste any money here on barristers and solicitors!

Best advice is get the ball rolling as early as possible before any de-facto arrangements can be put in place. Keep your money aside for later in the process if need be rather than waste it on solicitors from the start.

 

[Js79]

Thanks for your reply and thanks for the advise. I really appreciate it.

What’s the timeframe? Iv read dads won’t see there kids for months?

 

[Who is it?]

I guess every case is different and alot deoends also on your ex co-operation. You hear some very positive cases and self representing (wish i knew this earlier). Some are complicated and fabricated allegations are fully accepted snd creates weaponary and wasted time.

Keep child focussed and on track. Mine been ongoing 4 years nearly and i been through every hoop and 2 steps forwards, and 3 back. My costs are upto £6£,000 at the moment and paying full CMS. Be prepared and strong for the biggest fraud and scam system to date.

 

[Js79]

How can most people afford £60k
Thanks again for your reply

 

[Who is it?]

With difficulty, once you in the spiralling trap, its hard to give up, no choice to keep going or it all a loss.

 

[capa]

Court application (C100) I believe is £400. As for the rest, it depends on your appetite.

C100 application is around £250-275 , it's then topped up by the Solicitors costs to prepare it, as a guide for my financials I'm about 6k in with the final hearing to come so expecting 8-9k total, then I have the CAO starting which I hope can be resolved at first hearing thus keeping costs low, but so far in for 1.5k.

 

[Js79]

Thanks for the reply

 

[Ash]

Court fee for C100 isn't £400. It's £255 If the case is straightforward as mentioned above, then just using a Direct Access barrister for a final hearing is a good option. About 5k for a full day hearing (they can be a lot more but you'd get a good one for 5k).

So it could cost 5k. If you end up having a fact find and needing a barrister for that it could double. If it's a three day fact find, it could quadruple.

Hopefully you won't need a fact find, but it's one reason it's best not to make allegations against the ex - if she was unsafe or dangerous, social services would have already taken the kids away and would back you up in court. If that isn't the case, then making allegations against her is like stabbing yourself in the foot basically. Although situations vary.

If you use a solicitor you could run up thousands before you even get to a hearing.

It cost me 13k (quite a long time ago). 4k of that was for the barrister and worth every penny. The rest on solicitors was mostly money down the drain (after 3 different solicitors).