So yesterday was supposed to be the start of my wife's court case with her ex, almost two years after serving him with the original papers. We were prepared to go to trial but the court required both parties to appear this past Monday as a last ditch effort to settle...which we did. From my perspective, the settlement order ended up being equivalent to or better than the offer which we proposed back in November of last year (though its up for some interpretation...I'll describe in a minute). So yesterday we appeared in court to adjudicate costs. Given that the settlement was achieved two days before trial, a great deal of legal costs were expended in the last couple weeks in preparation. We felt we had a good chance at recouping a good proportion of our costs, but justice did not prevail and we ended up with nothing. The judge declared that since she did not have all the benefit of seeing evidence in a trial, she could not form context around her decision, and her decision was that the settlement represented a mixed result.
I would like to consider appealing (and representing my wife) based on the grounds that the last minute settlement meeting (as required by the court) made it such that we were at a disadvantage at the costs hearing. Also, our settlement included a number of lump sum payments as compared to our November offer which required slightly more money but paid out over a much longer period (years). My position is that a lump sum payment is worth more than a prolonged payback period and intend to get some help from my financial consultant to analyze the two packages. Just looking for some feedback and some advice on whether to file an appeal and where I should start looking for advice on representing my wife.
I would like to consider appealing (and representing my wife) based on the grounds that the last minute settlement meeting (as required by the court) made it such that we were at a disadvantage at the costs hearing. Also, our settlement included a number of lump sum payments as compared to our November offer which required slightly more money but paid out over a much longer period (years). My position is that a lump sum payment is worth more than a prolonged payback period and intend to get some help from my financial consultant to analyze the two packages. Just looking for some feedback and some advice on whether to file an appeal and where I should start looking for advice on representing my wife.
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