Applying for a costs assessment

Getting costs assessed

If costs are to be assessed, the successful party must serve a Form 60A - Costs statement (DOC, 56.5 KB) on the other party (an itemised account of the fees and disbursements reasonably incurred in the proceeding).

Objecting to the costs statement

If the served party objects to any item in the costs statement, they must serve the successful party with a Form 61 – Notice of objection (DOC, 34.5 KB) within 21 days of being served.

Each objection should be numbered, refer to the item in the costs statement that they object to, show the amount they think the item should be reduced by, and clearly state the reasons, or issues of law or fact, that form the basis of the objection.

Applying for the assessment

To apply for a costs assessment:

If a notice of objection has been served, the application must include:

You must serve a copy of the application and supporting material (other than the costs statement and notice of objection) on the other party or their legal representative within seven days of filing the application.

If a notice of objection has not been served, the application (for a ‘default assessment’) must be accompanied by:

In this case, you don’t have to serve a copy of the application and supporting material on the other party or their legal representative. Read more about default assessments. <link to Getting a costs assessment>

The court will then determine the application and advise parties of the outcome.

Fees

Filing fees

There are no filing fees for a Form 9 – Application (DOC, 45.5 KB) to have costs assessed if a file already exists in the registry.

There is a fee for filing a Form 5 – Originating application (DOC, 46.0 KB), prescribed under the Uniform Civil Procedure (Fees) Regulation 2009.

Costs assessor fees

The costs assessor will charge a fee. The fees charged by approved cost assessors are contained in the register of approved cost assessors (PDF, 240.5 KB). The party that pays these costs depends on the individual situation and outcome. Usually, the fee is included as a disbursement in the amount of costs assessed by the assessor.

If a party asks the assessor to provide written reasons following the assessment, the cost assessor is entitled to charge a fee. The requesting party pays the preparation costs. These costs are included in the party’s costs in any subsequent review.

Note: Usually the costs recoverable from the other litigant will not compensate the successful litigant for all legal fees.