Key Facts
- •Husband earns £350,000 gross salary + bonuses (£175,000 net last year).
- •Parties receive £2,500 monthly rent (outgoings exceed income).
- •Husband emptied joint accounts, transferring £140,000.
- •Wife applied for interim maintenance (£3,587.50), holiday funds (£22,150), and rent/utilities payment (£7,700).
- •Husband offered various holiday sums; wife rejected offers.
- •Wife incurred £65,000 in legal fees; husband £26,000.
- •Wife's application for a legal services payment order resolved by agreement (£42,000).
Legal Principles
Court's power to make costs orders in maintenance pending suit applications.
Family Procedure Rules 2010, Rule 28.1; Civil Procedure Rules 1998, Part 44 (excluding rule 44.2(2)).
Costs orders in maintenance pending suit applications are not determined by a 'costs follow the event' rule, but rather a 'clean sheet' approach considering all circumstances.
CPR 44.2(4), (5); Judge v Judge [2008] EWCA Civ 1458; Baker v Rowe [2009] EWCA Civ 1162.
Outcomes
Interim maintenance of £3,587.50 granted.
Slightly more than wife already received; husband to pay fixed amount; rent unreliable.
Holiday fund application refused.
Lack of jurisdiction to order interim lump sum; unaffordable given family's cash flow.
Husband to pay £7,700 monthly rent/utilities to wife.
Husband's actions in emptying joint accounts were controlling; wife's concerns about future withholding were justified.
Each party to pay their own costs.
Both parties contributed to the contested hearing; both succeeded and failed on parts of their applications; neither significantly more culpable.