All Rise

Liam O’Shea of Astle Paterson’s Dispute Resolution department reports that a number of Court fees will increase shortly.

Liam confirms that “The Ministry of Justice has confirmed that as of 22nd April 2014 Court fees will undergo a significant, mainly upward, shake-up.”

As stated in The Law Society Gazette, “Fees for compensation claims between £5,000 and £10,000 will increase by 81% from £245 to £445, with an extra £200 fee added to all claims up to those in excess of £300,000, which are capped at £1,870. Smaller claims will either face smaller increases or no increase at all.”

However it appears that “Fees will remain the same for cases involving sensitive family issues including child contact, divorce financial disputes and adoption applications – and there will be a reduction in the fee for local authorities to apply to take a child into care.’”

Shailesh Vara of the Ministry of Justice stated that “For many years, the civil court system has operated under the principle that those who use the courts should pay the full cost of the service they receive. However, this has not yet been achieved in practice, and, last year, the deficit was more than £100 Million … The changes set out in the consultation response will see fees rise for some court users so that they will pay the full cost of the service they receive … Those with limited financial means will be able to access a system of fee remissions to ensure that they are not denied access to the courts. In addition, the scrapping of the £75 application fee for domestic violence injunctions will help thousands of women seeking non-molestation and occupation orders, while the decision to freeze many fees in family applications at current levels will assist those who need to access the courts to resolve difficult family issues.”

Should you require any assistance regarding disputes then please contact Liam O’Shea of Astle Paterson’s Dispute Resolution Team on 01283 531366 or by way of email to loshea@astlepaterson.co.uk.