Making a Claim for Legal Costs

[jim222]

I just finished my trial in Superior Court. The main subject was child support, along with some incredible nonsense from the other side.

I'm confident that I will win, since I am already paying child support according to Tables and have been for several years. No evidence was offered that I earn more than I declare in my tax returns, though I was accused of earning over 3X my actual income. The judge said that he would make his Final Order later and would send his decision by email.

I am now self-represented, having endured devastating legal bills on a ridiculous case.

I arrived on the final day in court with my most recent Offer to Settle and an Affidavit of Service indicating that it had been served on the other party. I also brought my legal bills. I assumed that I would be presenting my legal bills and my Offer to Settle to the judge, but he said that there could be no discussion of costs at that time.

My question is simple: How do I physically get my Offer to Settle into the judge's hands? How do I physically get my lawyers bills into the judge's hands? Am I supposed to file them somewhere? Will there be some future day in court when we discuss costs?

I had read on this blog that I should have my Offer to Settle ready at the end of the trial to present to the judge, but it didn't work out that way. I assume that was because the judge had not yet arrived at his final decision.

I doubt I will ever be able to recover much (if any) of my substantial costs, but I'm hoping that a victory on costs will discourage any further lunatic court proceedings in the future.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

[rockscan]

Did you serve the offer on the other side? You don’t deal with costs until the decision is rendered.

You might want to do a search of this forum on costs and also google for the rules.

[OrleansLawyer]

My question is simple: How do I physically get my Offer to Settle into the judge's hands? How do I physically get my lawyers bills into the judge's hands? Am I supposed to file them somewhere? Will there be some future day in court when we discuss costs?

Costs cannot be dealt with until you have the trial decision - otherwise, how do you know who won?

Generally, the trial endorsement will end with something like, "The parties are encouraged to resolve costs, however if that cannot be done the Applicant's cost submissions are due in 20 days and the Respondent's cost decision are due a further 20 days thereafter."

They are filed, either through your local family counter or through trial coordination (depending on local practice), in a properly bound volume and index. It is akin to doing a factum.

[jim222]

Thanks for the quick replies. They were helpful.

I'm not looking forward to writing up another document for this case, but it's possible writing this one may turn out to be fun.

Thanks again.

-- Jim