Although orders for costs can be made in ancillary relief proceedings, they are rare.  You should always reckon on paying all your own costs of sorting out the finances.
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If a divorce petition contains a claim for costs, and if the couple have not been able to agree on how much the respondent is going to contribute to the petitioner's costs, the court will make the decision.  This is done either at the time that decree nisi is pronounced, or at a separate short hearing fixed for the purpose.

At the costs hearing, the parties may be represented by a solicitor, but usually it is uneconomic to instruct a solicitor, simply because the cost of doing so can be greate...
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A divorce petition based on adultery or unreasonable behaviour will normally contain a claim for costs.  That means that the petitioner asks the court to order the respondent to pay all his/her costs of the divorce (the 'main suit', that is, not any other aspect such as financial matters or children - see 'Divorce Costs (1)').

Typically, the respondent indicates that he/she will cooperate with the proceedings (by completing the 'acknowledgement of service' form and returning it to the court) p...
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When you get divorced, there are usually two lots of legal costs that you have to pay: the costs of actually getting divorced (petition - decree nisi - decree absolute) and the costs of sorting out the finances (disclosure - negotiation - court order).  If there is a dispute over children, or there is an issue of domestic viloence, there will be additional costs in dealing with those matters as well. 

Unless there are no finances to sort out, or they're very simple indeed, sorting out the fina...
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An order for costs (see 10th August) can be made against a party regardless of whether they are privately funded (i.e. paying their own legal costs) or in receipt of Public Funding.  However if a judge makes an order for costs against a party in receipt of Public Funding the judge must then go on to decide how much of the costs the party is actually to pay.  

 They are two separate exercises: first, should either party be ordered to pay any of the other party's costs? secondly, if a party is o...
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At the end of each hearing during a case, the judge will consider whether he should make an order for costs.  'Costs reserved' means that that the judge is postponing making a decision on the costs of that hearing.  The judge may specify when the decision is to be made, e.g. 'Costs of today reserved to the final hearing'.
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'Costs in the application' usually appears as a provision at the end of a set of directions made by the judge during the course of a case.  Most cases don't go straight to a final hearing - there is at least one 'directions appointment' along the way.  

'Costs in the application' means "At this stage I'm not ordering either party to pay the other's costs of today's directions appointment.  If, at the end of the case, a costs order is made, then the costs of today are to be included in the cost...
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An order for costs is a court order requiring a party to pay the other party's costs.  The order can be to pay all the other party's costs, or a proportion of them, or it can be to make a contribution of a fixed amount.

In divorce cases, there are usually two separate lots of costs: the costs of the divorce itself (the 'main suit') and the costs of dealing with financial matters ('ancillary relief').  

If a divorce petition is based on adultery or unreasonable behaviour, the petitioner may ask ...
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'Costs' is used by solicitors in slightly different ways depending on the context.  It can mean specifically the fees charged by the solicitor, for example:  "I estimate that my costs will be £500 plus VAT and disbursements".  It can mean the overall cost of a case, for example:  "By the time the order was implemented, the husband's costs had mounted to £7,500".  In the second example, 'costs' is used in a general sense to mean the solicitor's costs and VAT as well as disbursements and poss...
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Prayer

To pray is simply to ask.  

 The prayer in a divorce petition is the part where the petitioner asks the court what he or she wants the court to order.  Typically this will be that the marriage be dissolved and that various financial orders be made.  There may also be a request that the court order the respondent to pay the petitioner's legal costs of the divorce - a 'prayer for costs'.

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Answer:

If a person is served with a divorce petition and wants to defend the proceedings, the document they submit to the court is an Answer.  

Most divorces are undefended, in which case there is no Answer.

Typically, an Answer states that the marriage has broken down irretrievably but asserts that the reason for the breakdown is unreasonable behaviour or adultery on the part of the petitioner.  Details ('particulars') of the behaviour or adultery are usually given, and the Answer usually co...
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