The Civil Legal Services (Costs) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015

Assessment of resources

7.—(1) The value of the client’s interest in the main or only dwelling in which they reside shall not be taken into account in having regard to the client’s resources for the purposes of Article 18(1) of the Order.

(2) Where, but only to the extent that, the court considers that the circumstances are exceptional, having regard in particular to the quantity or value of the items concerned, the court may take into account the value of the client’s clothes and household furniture, or the tools and implements of the client’s trade, in having regard to the client’s resources for the purposes of Article 18(1) of the Order.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4), in having regard to the resources of a party for the purposes of Article 18(1) of the Order, the resources of the party’s partner shall be treated as that party’s resources.

(4) The resources of a party’s partner shall not be treated as that party’s resources if the partner has a contrary interest in the dispute in respect of which the funded services are provided.

(5) Where a party is acting in a representative, fiduciary or official capacity, the court shall not take the personal resources of the party into account for the purposes of Article 18(1) of the Order, but shall have regard to the value of any property or estate, or the amount of any fund out of which that party is entitled to be indemnified, and may also have regard to the resources of the persons, if any, including that party where appropriate, who are beneficially interested in that property, estate or fund.

(6) For the purposes of Article 18(1) of the Order, where a party is acting as a next friend or guardian ad litem to a client who is a child or a patient, the court shall not take the personal resources of the next friend or guardian ad litem into account in assessing the resources of the client.