Iphostrou & Iphostrou and Ors

In the matter of *Iphostrou & Iphostrou and Ors*, the Honourable Justice Cronin considered an application by the wife for interim orders relating to litigation funding. The dispute concerned the wife's need for financial assistance to meet her legal costs and disbursements in the ongoing proceedings.

The court was required to determine whether to grant interim orders for litigation funding to the wife, and if so, the terms upon which such funding should be provided. Specifically, the court had to consider how payments made by the husband for his own legal expenses should be managed to ensure the wife's solicitors received funds to cover her costs.

Justice Cronin reasoned that a mechanism was necessary to ensure the wife's legal costs were met while the proceedings were ongoing. The court ordered that within seven days of the husband paying his solicitors for expenses related to his case, he must pay an equivalent sum to the wife's solicitors. The husband's solicitors were to hold any funds received from him in trust, not to be applied until the wife's solicitors had received the same amount. If the husband failed to make the payment to the wife's solicitors within seven days, he was to direct his own solicitors to pay 50 per cent of the funds held in trust to the wife's solicitors. These payments were to be applied by the wife's solicitors towards her costs and disbursements. The court also noted that the categorisation of these payments would be a matter for the trial judge.

Ultimately, the wife's application for interim orders relating to litigation funding was otherwise dismissed, with the specific orders detailed above being made.