Divorce court costs demands?

vicxzy

Hi everyone,

Wondered if anyone could help?
My ex husband is divorcing me as we have lived apart for 2 years.
Its straightforward, no kids etc but he paid court costs & now is demanding half the court costs back from me.
I'm in serious debt (dealing with it by way of DMP currently) I'm on maternity leave & maternity pay doesnt even cover my rent, Ive explained this to him but he doesnt listen.
Our marital home is on the market, when it sells I can pay him back the £200 I owe but now hes saying hes going to see a solicitor to get the money back off me.
Does anyone have any advice? I could do without this stress just before I give birth, ive been hospitalised through most of my whole pregnancy already x

NAR

You can't give him what you don't have, even if you are liable (which I would question as he has brought the case). I would have a word with CAB and see what they advise.

McKneff

Stop worrying, call his bluff.

Let him go and see his solicitor, it will end up costing him more than that for a consultation, a letter, another letter and another.

I dont see why you should have to pay him back at all to be honest if he brought the action.

Just relax, stress harms babies.

Rach39

When the Divorce Petition was served you would have completed an acknowledgement of service form which would have been returned to the Court. One of the questions says something like, if you consent to the divorce on the grounds of 2 years separation do you agree to bear half the costs of the action. Did you say yes or no? If you said yes then theoretically he can chase you for this but as others have said if you don't have it he can't get it and it will cost him FAR FAR more than that to go through the whole process of debt recovery action against you and any solicitor worth his salt will strongly advise he lets this go and forgets about it!

gratefulforhelp_2

The court form should indeed reflect who is liable for the costs, if there is no mention, then the person doing the divorcing will pay. If you used a solicitor then they should have been clear with you about this.

Sometimes, the court decides that someone other than the person doing the divorcing will pay (like my ex who I divorced for being a !!!!!! and who refused to pay half the costs, the court deemed it appropriate that he should pay them in full :rotfl:).

vicxzy

Thanks everyone, I did sign to say I was happy to pay costs but only because he bamboozled me & said I could only not pay half the costs if I was on benefits. I now I shouldve checked this first but I just wanted him to get lost with his papers!x

gratefulforhelp_2

Remember that feeling well, onwards and upwards.

AnnaLicious_2

My ex got seriously nasty when I was pregnant. It's like a massive blow to them - you have clearly moved on from your relationships, the divorce is final, and you're having a baby with someone else. He was horrific to me, sent me email after email saying he wished me dead. I know, charming. You're pregnany so he's being nasty over money. And over a trivial amount.

Don't reply anymore, don't engage in the conversation, don't reply to the texts or emails. You're divorced now, he doesn't need to be in your life. There comes a time you need to just cut off all contact.