Legal Services Payment Order

What is a legal services payment order (LSPO)?

A legal services payment order (LSPO) is a court order requiring a party in divorce proceedings to make payment to their spouse so that they can fund specific legal services. LSPOs are typically used in financial remedy proceedings where one spouse has greater financial resources than the other. They are designed to ensure that both parties have equal access to legal representation.

If you’re considering or going through a divorce and require funding for your legal costs from your spouse, we can help. Click below for a free initial consultation with one of our expert divorce solicitors. 

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The need for lspos

Funding legal costs can be challenging for some clients, especially when the assets are controlled by the other party in the marriage. While litigation loans can sometimes help, securing such loans can be difficult if the client has no assets in their name to offer as security. 

Fortunately, there are ways around this. If you are unable to pay your legal fees (either from your own assets or from borrowing) then you can apply for a legal services order; your spouse will be required to make a monthly payment to satisfy your legal fees. 

This will allow you to fight your case on a level playing field and will help ensure that you have the best legal representation available. In making an LSPO, the court will look at your circumstances and the complexity of your case. Where you have a high-value claim involving difficult points of law, the court will want to make sure that you have high-level representation and will likely order your spouse to pay for it. 

applying for an lspo

In order to obtain an LSPO, you must demonstrate to the court that you are unable to fund your legal costs through other means. To prove this, the court must be satisfied of the following:

• You do not have sufficient assets that could be reasonably expected to pay your legal fees.
• You are unable to borrow money, whether that’s in the form of a soft loan or hard loan from family or friends, a commercial loan from a bank, or a loan from a litigation lender. This will generally need to be evidenced with a rejection letter from a commercial or litigation lender. 
• You are unable to come to an agreement with your solicitor that you will pay them once you have recieved a financial settlement. Again, this will need to be evidenced with a letter from your solicitor confirming that they will not make such an agreement. 

What does the court consider when making an LSPO?

Under section 22ZB of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, the court must consider the following factors when determining whether to make an LSPO:

• the income, earning capacity, property and other financial resources the parties have or are likely to have in the foreseeable future,

• the financial needs, obligations and responsibilities the parties have or are likely to have in the foreseeable future,

• the subject matter of the proceedings,

• whether the paying party is legally represented in the proceedings,

• any steps taken by the applicant to avoid all or part of the proceedings, whether by proposing or considering mediation or otherwise,

• the applicant’s conduct in relation to the proceedings,

• any amount owed by the applicant to the paying party in respect of costs in the proceedings or other proceedings to which both the applicant and the paying party are or were party, and

• the effect on the paying party.

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