So, you merrily issue your Form A after the 3rd April 2006 thinking that the new costs rules apply (mentioned in my previous post here), then you are surprised to receive a Calderbank letter from the other side. Before you write back to smugly tell your opposite number that Calderbank letters have been abolished, check whether either party filed a pre-3rd April petition or answer containing a prayer for ancillary relief. If so, the old costs rules will still apply. For details, see Rule 10 of the Family Proceedings (Amendment) Rules 2006.
(To non-lawyers: a Form A is an application for a financial/property settlement and a Calderbank letter is a letter containing settlement proposals that the recipient cannot show to the court but if the recipient does not 'beat' the proposal, the sender can show it to the court and ask the court to order the recipient to pay the sender's costs from the date of the letter. Got that?)
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