Re:Order of Costs

Hi All,

I wonder what you will make of this situation.
Decree nisi was granted in Dec 09 and in it I was ordered to pay 50% of other sides costs.
Nothing was then heard until after the FDR and decree absolute which was finally granted at the end of Apr 2011. I do not dispute the amount of the other sides 50% of costs, somewhere in the region of £750.
I even wrote a cheque and handed it to the other solicitors office. This is where the fun began. Because I wrote the cheque from the joint account where I contributed between 5 and 7 times the contribution of the other side they rejected the cheque and said I had to pay from other funds. I had a personal current account - but this held only the money needed to meet the annual tax bill from a rental property. A point I have had to make ad nauseum.
I made 3 attempts to pay and all were rejected. This all happened in May 2011.
I then heard nothing more until Oct 2011 when the other sides solicitor now claims payment, the joint account is now locked and I am fighting to keep my head above water having to furnish a new home and pay two expensive mortgages as I cannot get a good rate as I am still on the original FMH mortgage ( third mortgage).
I have kicked back to the other sides solicitor and pointed out that his client had over spent on the joint account by some £2400 in Dec 2011 after the Judge advised against such actions. The other sides solicitor tried to justify this expenditure as "essential expenditure" as I was restricting the other sides access to funds (a blatant lie). I am not bothered by the overspending as such but more insensed by the hypocrisy of their position in that the other side is allowed to spend extravagantly from the "joint" account however, I am refused the right to pay that one bill from that account. I am in two minds as to whether I am justified in refusing to pay on the basis that I made all reasonable attempts to pay and they refused to accept payment until it suited them. Is there a time limit that they can wait to ask for payment?
What are your thoughts?
This is joint one of about 4 or 5 outstanding issues that make life just such a joy. I dispensed with solicitors help after the FDR procedure racked up over £7k for very little benefit. Good job it is not an industry that is paid by results.

When it comes to this sort of thing, the question is how does your ex enforce the order? The point is that it's not the solicitor who is entitled to enforce, it's your ex. I guess that your argument is that by over drawing on the joint account he has already taken the money. I did wonder whether you had a defence of tender but I see that if you raise this you have to pay the money into court. Could you still raise a cheque on the joint account to pay it?

Hi,
Thanks for the reply. No the joint account is locked - so I cannot draw against it.
Sorry to ask a basic question - but what is a Defence of Tender?