The Government has recently announced that people taking high value cases through civil courts in England and Wales will be expected to pay much more towards their running costs. However, the fees for domestic violence injunctions will be scrapped.
The new proposals put out for consultation include:
- Scrapping the £75 application fee for domestic violence injunctions which will help thousands of women seeking non-molestation and occupation orders. More than 20,000 applications were made in 2012.
- Increasing the fees for cases involving claims for money (for example when someone makes a claim for compensation) on a sliding scale, with a maximum fee of £1,870 - and considering moving in future to a system where the fee is calculated as a percentage of the amount under dispute in the court case.
- Introducing a standard fee of £270 for civil cases which are not about claims for money (applying for someone to be declared insolvent or to repossess property for example) - instead of the current mixture of fees.
Fees would stay the same for cases involving sensitive family issues including child contact, divorce financial disputes and adoption applications - as well as a reduction in the fee for local authorities to apply to take a child into care.
Courts Minister Shailesh Vara said:
“Hard-working taxpayers should not have to subsidise millionaires embroiled in long cases fighting over vast amounts of money, and we are redressing that balance.
“Vulnerable groups must also be protected, which is why we are keeping the fees the same for sensitive family issues including adoption applications and child contact and scrapping the application fee for victims of domestic violence seeking injunctions to protect themselves.”
The consultation will run until 21st January 2014. Government expects to make changes to the fees, depending on the outcome of the consultation, in Spring and Summer 2014.
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If you need specialist advice on any family law matter, including divorce and domestic violence, then call us on 0151 909 5811 or click here to make an online enquiry.
