Costs in Financial Remedy Proceedings: an overview

Vivien Croly St John’s Chambers

Until relatively recently practitioners dealing with financial remedy work were rarely troubled by the issue of costs at the conclusion of a contested final hearing. However with the introduction from 2018 of the Financial Remedy Court (FRC) the amendments to Practice Direction 28A in May 2019 and the FRC Efficiency statements in January 2022 courts are beginning to demonstrate a more robust approach to the making of costs orders for litigation misconduct. This is being felt in big and small money cases and in the context of needs and sharing.

As such practitioners will need to be alive to the issue of costs at the outset and be ready to make or defend applications for costs at the conclusion of contested proceedings.

This article considers the current position on costs the key issues faced and how cases and the law are likely to evolve over time.