Bogdanov and Pryor

In *Bogdanov and Pryor*, heard before Tree J, the dispute concerned the financial orders to be made in family law proceedings. The applicant wife was ordered to make specific payments to the respondent husband, both as a lump sum and in relation to legal and expert costs incurred in the proceedings.

The court was required to determine the terms of the financial orders, including the quantum of a lump sum payment from the wife to the husband, and the mechanism for the wife to contribute to the husband's legal and expert costs. The court also needed to establish how these payments were to be held and applied by the respective solicitors.

Tree J ordered the applicant wife to pay the respondent husband a lump sum of $135,000 within 14 days. Further, the wife was ordered to pay any monies received by her solicitors for accounts rendered by her own legal representatives or any experts engaged in the proceedings to the husband's solicitors within seven days of payment. These monies were to be held in trust by the wife's solicitors, with a memorandum of the amounts to be provided to the husband's solicitors. Crucially, these funds were not to be applied towards the wife's legal costs until an equivalent amount had been paid to the husband's solicitors. If payment to the husband's solicitors was not made within seven days, 50% of the trust funds were to be paid to them. The husband's solicitors were permitted to apply these received funds solely towards the husband's legal costs and outlays. All payments made under these orders were to be considered part of the husband's property settlement entitlement.