Guernsey Legal Resources

    In a contested application for financial provision in which funds are available, costs will prima facie follow the event, but this starting point may easily be displaced, e.g. in cases involving children, in which it is unusual to award costs at all (Gojkovic v. Gojkovic (No. 2), [1992] Fam. 40, dicta of Butler-Sloss, L.J. followed).

    If the offer of a lump sum by the respondent is rejected by the applicant and, on a subsequent application for financial provision, the applicant secures no more (or less) than the lump sum previously offered, the applicant is at risk not only of not being awarded his or her costs but also of being ordered to pay the costs of the respondent incurred after the communication of the offer (allowing a reasonable time for the applicant to consider it), since nothing will have been achieved by the litigation (Butcher v. Wolfe, [1999] 1 FLR 334, followed; Gojkovic v. Gojkovic (No. 2), [1992] Fam. 40, dicta of Butler-Sloss, L.J. followed).