Cost to go to court

tinybee

Hi would anybody know what it would cost to have a case heard in the circuit court the case relates to a dispute over a will . thanks

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058230947/cost-to-go-to-court

I'd ring different solicitors today, and as there are many waste-of-space layabout solicitors (as there are similar people in every profession) I'd be seeking recommendations for that speciality.

I've been quoted at least €31,000 to go to the Circuit Court for a separation/divorce with a family law specialist, and that would include JC rather than SC. Although I was also told that c. 80% of such cases are settled long before it gets to court, c. 10% are settled outside on the morning of the court case, and c. 10% go to an actual judge who decides. All variants of the "solution" which were outlined to me had the word "shítshow" in them with "complete and utter" and other such adjectives qualifying the extent of the mess. And "prolonged" was frequently used, with many cases going on for years so to expect to have one's life pulverised for a long time. If it's a family dispute over a will, I can't imagine it's going to be much different if you have to go to court.

Peregrinus

Family law matters and disputes over will have a very high chance of resulting in prolonged, bitter and unsatisfactory litigation. For this reason a practitioner will not quote you a fixed fee for litigation of this kind, any any estimate will be hedged about with a lot of "how long is a piece of string?" comments.

Civil law is basically about resolving legal questions and settling disputes by the payment of money, but the underlying cause of the conflicts in family law and estate rows is not a legal one, and the injuries people suffer and argue over are psychic and emotional, and cannot be compensated with the payment of money. Lots of litigants in cases of this kind will behave in a way that their lawyers will see as irrational and, whatever the resolution of the case, far more of the people involved will find it an unsatisfactory resolution than find it a satisfactory one.

So, if there is any chance at all of resolving family law matters or rows over estates by negotiation or mediation rather than by going to law, grab that chance with both hands and give it everything you've go. Anything the parties can work out collaboratively has a high chance of working out much more satisfactorily, and at a far lower cost, than litigation.

If litigation is inevitable, understand that you are not really looking to the litigation to solve the problem; you are looking to the litigation to clean up the fallout of the fact that the parties couldn't solve the problem. Be realistic in understanding what you can achieve through the litigation and what you can't, and try to limit the litigation to the bare minimum of things that really matter.