Read the full judgment text of FCMC 9562/2011 on BabelCite. This Family Court judgment was delivered on 26 March 2015 before 區域法院暫委法官陳玉芬.
Civil procedure – Costs – Variation of provisional costs order – Ancillary relief – Discretion – Litigation conduct – In Re Elgindata Ltd (No 2) [1993] 1 All ER 232 – Wife's application to vary costs order dismissed – Previous costs order becomes absolute – No costs order for this application. The Court heard an application by the wife (Petitioner) to vary a provisional costs order made in a previous judgment dated 23 February 2015 in ancillary relief proceedings. The previous judgment had ordered the husband (Respondent) to sell one of his properties and pay the wife $250,000 as a lump sum maintenance, with no costs order made. The wife applied on 9 March 2015 for the costs order to be varied so that the husband would pay half of her costs. The wife raised four main arguments: first, that the Court applied a double standard by removing unpaid costs from the wife's liabilities but not adding paid costs to the husband's assets; second, that the husband's litigation conduct, including non-compliance and dishonest disclosure, caused extra work for the wife's lawyers; third, that the Court made erroneous assumptions about her lawyer's statements regarding costs; and fourth, regarding the preparation of work sheets for the husband's expenses. The Court rejected these arguments, finding that the removal of unpaid costs was an agreement between lawyers to avoid unfairness if the husband won, the husband's costs were analyzed in the previous judgment, and the wife's arguments were reiterations of previous submissions rather than new points. The Court also noted that the assessment of costs is for the Taxing Master. The Court held that the provisional costs order should not be varied. The application was dismissed, the provisional costs order became absolute, and no costs order was made for this hearing.
Legal issues: Application to vary costs order
Outcome: Wife's application dismissed. Provisional costs order becomes absolute.
Cited by 1 case