A High Court judge has ordered a woman to pay nearly a quarter of her former husband’s costs after legal spending on their divorce reached almost £3m.

Mr Justice MacDonald said the costs incurred were a ‘monumental sum’ which were extended by the wife's ‘egregious and persistent litigation conduct’.

In DH v RH the court dealt with the issue of costs following a final hearing of financial remedy proceedings. The husband’s costs had reached £1m by the final hearing, with the wife’s coming to £1.9m.

The wife had made no written submissions as to costs despite the court inviting her to do so. She had been warned by the court last summer that her costs were causing concern as she sought to prove her contention that the husband was hiding assets, including holdings in cryptocurrency. She argued that these hidden assets amounted to between £170m and £210m, but this was rejected by the judge.

The judge split the assets between 52% to the wife and 48% to the husband, adding that this was sufficient to meet her needs.

The husband accused the wife at the final hearing of ‘wanton and reckless dissipation of assets’ through her pursuit of litigation, and a ‘serial failure’ to comply with court orders.

He alleged that she stole confidential financial information, resulting in his incurring an extra £25,000 in costs. The wife failed to comply with at least 50 individual case management orders and instead engaged in a ‘zealous and unremitting search for assets for believed to be undisclosed’.

The husband also alleged that the wife’s behaviour during the hearing was ‘disruptive and caused considerable delay’ to the conclusion of the final hearing, resulting in increased costs. Following the hearing, the wife attempted to contact the judge and proceeded, without permission, to email large amounts of material to the court.

The judge ordered that the wife pay £200,000 towards the husband’s costs and a further £55,000 to cover specific expenditure he was forced into.

 

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