An expert’s report was required for the purposes of care proceedings. The court ordered that the cost be paid as to half by the local authority, where there were three other parties. The authority appealed.
Held: The authority’s appeal was allowed. The proportionate basis, where the cost was divided equally between the four parties was to be preferred. The other three parties had the benefit of legal aid. There was no statutory guidance, but the following points arose: The court should seek a fair apportionment; the court should allow for whether the report was to go purely to satisfaction of the threshold condition; whether the expert was a treating expert rather than merely a forensic expert; and the fact that a party was publicly funded should not lead to a different position.
Bodey J
Times 18-Nov-2004, [2005] 1 FLR 751
Children Act 1989 38(9)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – In Re B (A Minor) (Sexual Abuse: Expert’s Report) CA 29-Mar-2000
In sexual abuse case brought in the family courts it was vital that instructions to an expert to prepare a report should be impartial, and given jointly by the parties. Such instructions should not allow the expert to make any forensic contribution . .
Cited by:
Applied – Lambeth London Borough Council v S and C and V and J and Legal Services Commission FD 3-May-2005
The council brought care proceedings. A residential assessment was to be ordered. The Council sought an order for the respondent mother who was legally aided to bear a portion of the cost of the assessment. The Legal Services Commission intervened . .
Endorsed – DS and Others (Children) FD 31-May-2012
The court gave guidance on legal aid arrangement for the funding of supporting expert evidence in care applications.
Held: The court gave the following guidance: ‘i) The words ‘the cost thereof is deemed to be a necessary and proper . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Children
Updated: 12 December 2021; Ref: scu.220103