DMD Costs legal costs tools

Works out the last day to bring a civil claim in England and Wales under the Limitation Act 1980, strictly: personal injury, clinical negligence and industrial disease (s.11, with children and capacity under s.28, death under s.11(5) and s.12, child sexual abuse under s.11ZA, armed forces), housing disrepair (a continuing breach: the 6-year look-back from the issue date), contract, tort and latent damage with the 15-year longstop, deeds, the Defective Premises Act, contribution, defamation, defective products and judgments. It never infers a date of knowledge: give it. Where the law is unsettl…

Works out the costs a self-represented party can claim in the civil courts of England and Wales under CPR 46.5: £24 an hour for time spent on or after 1 October 2025 and £19 an hour before (PD 46 para 3.4), or proven financial loss; payments for legal services and expert help with the costs claim; disbursements; the two-thirds cap on everything except disbursements, checked only against your own figure for what a lawyer would have been allowed; the small claims track limits (CPR 27.14(2)); fixed recoverable costs (CPR 45.4); and who counts as a litigant in person. It never estimates what a law…

Works out the dates for written questions to an expert (CPR 35.6: within 28 days of service of the report, deemed service under CPR 6.26, once only and for clarification unless the court permits or the other party agrees; before proceedings, the pre-action protocol that applies, of which only the Personal Injury Protocol fixes 28 days) and for a Part 18 request for further information (PD 18: the date for the response, and what can be done if none comes, including the application and its fee). On the small claims track CPR 27.2 disapplies both, and it says so. The page also builds a Word templ…

Works out a Part 36 offer in England and Wales: when it was made (deemed service, CPR 6.26 and 36.7) and when its relevant period ends; whether an acceptance was in time (CPR 36.13); whether the judgment, or the detailed assessment, beat the offer (CPR 36.17(1)); and the consequences in money: the additional amount, enhanced interest of up to 10% above base rate, indemnity costs and interest on them, the 35% uplift in fixed costs claims (CPR 36.24), or the defendant's costs. Uses the Bank of England's base rate history. Give at least who made the offer, the amount and the date it was sent; add…

Works out the timescales in the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents, the EL/PL protocol and the RTA Small Claims (OIC) protocol, in business days: the CNF response (15 or 30 business days RTA, 30 employers' liability, 40 public liability; RTA small claims 30 or 40), interim payments, the Stage 2 consideration and negotiation periods and their extensions, settlement and non-settlement payments, the Court Proceedings Pack, the exit points and Stage 3 under PD 49F. Dates beyond the bank-holiday data are never given as firm. It never advises on liabil…

Works out the dates the main pre-action protocols in England and Wales set after a letter of claim, counted the way each protocol words them, with the paragraph for each: housing conditions (20 working days from receipt, deemed 2 days after the letter's date; inspection; expert's report), clinical disputes (14 days from receipt; Letter of Response 4 months from the letter of claim, and from receipt), personal injury (21 calendar days from posting; 3 months from the acknowledgment), disease and illness including hearing loss (21 days from posting; 90 days from the acknowledgment), professional …

Works out the statutory demand and petition timetable in England and Wales: on a company (Insolvency Act 1986 s.123(1)(a): 3 weeks to pay, secure or compound, then a winding-up petition) or on an individual (s.268: 18 days to apply to set the demand aside under IR 2016 r.10.4, 21 days to comply, then a bankruptcy petition for at least £5,000), with personal service and CPR 6.26, a set-aside application stopping the clock, the four-month rule, service of the petition (CPR 6.14), the Gazette notice, the certificate of compliance, notices of opposition and of intention to appear, and the court fe…

For a decision in an ordinary civil claim in England and Wales, or in detailed assessment proceedings, works out which court hears an appeal (Destination of Appeals Order 2016; PD 52A Table 1), whether permission is needed and from whom, the last day for the appellant's notice (21 days under CPR 52.12(2)(b), or the period the lower court set, with court office closures), the form (N161, or N164 for small claims), the court fee, the respondent's notice (N162), transcript and appeal bundle dates, and the next steps; and flags a notice already late against today's date. Covers appeals from author…

Checks a social landlord's Awaab's Law timescales in England (section 10A of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and the Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025, S.I. 2025/1042, in force from 27 October 2025 for damp and mould and for emergency hazards): the investigation, the written summary, the safety work, alternative accommodation and supplementary preventative work, each with its deadline and whether it was met, counting working days or 24-hour periods. It does not decide whether a hazard is significant or an emergency: that is a question of fact. Give…

Checks when a settlement, interim payment or payment in by or for a child or protected party needs the court's approval in England and Wales (CPR 21.10; PD 21 was revoked in 2023), the route (a Part 8 claim before issue, or an application in the proceedings), the documents for the approval hearing, the court fee, investment of the money (CPR 21.11, the Court Funds Office forms and the Court of Protection for £100,000 or more) and the rules on deductions from damages (CPR 21.12, 46.4). It never values the claim or works out a costs or deduction figure.

Sets out the main ways to enforce a money judgment, costs order or costs certificate in England and Wales side by side: warrant of control, transfer up and writ of control, attachment of earnings, charging order, order for sale, third party debt order and order to obtain information. For each it says whether the rules allow it now (the £600 and £5,000 limits in the High Court and County Courts Jurisdiction Order 1991 art 8, Consumer Credit Act debts, missed instalments, AEA 1971 s.3(3), permission after six years under CPR 83.2), the court, the form, the court fee, the PD 45 Table 7 fixed cost…

Works out which test applies when a deadline in a civil claim in England and Wales has been missed or is about to be, then lays out the questions the court asks, each with what the rule or the case says and your own answers: relief from sanctions under CPR 3.8 and 3.9 and the three Denton stages (late witness statements, budgets, experts' reports, disclosure, points of dispute, unless orders, late appeal notices); an extension applied for in time (Hallam Estates) or under CPR 3.1(2)(a); agreed extensions (CPR 2.11, 3.8(4), 15.5); the claim form (CPR 7.6); and setting aside a default judgment (…

Checks which conditions for security for costs in the civil courts of England and Wales (CPR Part 25 Section VI, as rewritten from 6 April 2025) appear to be met on your answers, with the rule's words: a claimant resident out of the jurisdiction (with the enforcement position by country, including the 2019 Hague Judgments Convention), a company with reason to believe it will be unable to pay (and after-the-event insurance), a change of address to evade, no or an incorrect address, a nominal claimant, steps taken with assets, funders and assignors (r.25.28), appeals (r.25.29), counterclaims, So…

Checks whether a claim in England and Wales normally goes to the small claims track (CPR 26.9 to 26.12: £10,000; personal injury limits for pain, suffering and loss of amenity; housing disrepair with an order for repairs; never harassment or unlawful eviction) and adds up what CPR 27.14(2) allows on your figures: the Table 2 fixed issue costs, court fees paid, reasonable travel, lost earnings up to £95 a day for each person, experts up to £750 each, up to £260 for advice on an injunction or specific performance claim, and an appeal transcript. Optionally it also covers the small claims mediati…

Works out whether a solicitor's bill can still be assessed under section 70 of the Solicitors Act 1974 (England and Wales), for the client, the firm, a third party who paid it (s.71(1)) or a beneficiary of an estate or trust that paid, or is entitled to pay, it (s.71(3)), from the dates of delivery, payment, judgment and the application: assessment as of right within one month of delivery (s.70(1)), the court's discretion up to 12 months (s.70(2)), special circumstances after 12 months, after judgment or after payment (s.70(3)), and no power more than 12 months after payment (s.70(4)). An emai…

Works out whether a receiving party in England and Wales can include VAT in its claim for costs against the paying party, and how much: VAT is not claimed if the receiving party can recover it as input tax, and only the irrecoverable proportion where it recovers part (PD 44 para 2.3); input tax means VAT on services for its business, and only the business share where the services were used partly for it (VAT Act 1994 s.24(1) and (5); HMRC VIT13600); a VAT group recovers for its members (s.43); and the paying party cannot reclaim VAT on the other side's costs (VATSC11531). Covers public bodies …

Explains what a costs order in England and Wales means, from the words of the order or the wording picked from a list: costs in any event, costs in the case or in the application, costs reserved, claimant's or defendant's costs in the case, costs thrown away, of and caused by, here and below, no order as to costs, summary and detailed assessment, payment on account, indemnity or standard basis, an order silent on costs, deemed orders (Part 36 acceptance, discontinuance, strike-out for an unpaid fee), wasted costs and non-party costs. Says who recovers the costs under each way the case can end,…

Finds the civil court fee in England and Wales for a court form or a step, by form number or in words (for example "N244", "N245", "warrant of control", "set aside a CCJ", "Tomlin order", "charging order"): each fee with its fee number in Schedule 1 to the Civil Proceedings Fees Order 2008, when it is paid, notes with their source, and our reading, labelled as such, where neither the Order nor the EX50 ties the fee to the form. Forms with no court fee say so. Fees in force from 13 July 2026. Help with fees is not taken into account. For the fees across a whole claim, use calculate_civil_court_…

Says which court office deals with a detailed assessment in England and Wales, from the court named on the case: the local County Court hearing centre or district registry, or the Senior Courts Costs Office (SCCO). Handles the London rule in PD 47 para 4.2, where the request for an assessment hearing (N258) goes to the SCCO on CE-File but the default costs certificate (N254) stays at the local hearing centre.

Gives the exact wording of a statement of truth in England and Wales for the document and the person signing, copied word for word from its source and cited to the paragraph: statements of case and application notices (PD 22 para 2.1, naming the party where a legal representative, company officer or litigation friend's representative signs, or in a separate document under para 2.5), witness statements (PD 32 para 20.2, with the PD 57AC confirmation and certificate in the Business and Property Courts), expert reports (PD 35 para 3.3), certificates of service (Form N215), certificates of suitabi…

Looks up the costs rules of the Civil Procedure Rules in England and Wales, rule by rule, by number or by words: Parts 44 to 47 (general rules, fixed costs, special cases, detailed assessment), the costs rules of Part 36, costs budgeting and capping in Part 3 and security for costs in Part 25. Each rule comes back with its official heading, Part and Section, a plain-English summary, a practice note, its old number where it was renumbered (2023 and 2025), when it was omitted if it has been, a link to its text on legislation.gov.uk and the free DMD tool for it, if any. A word search works like t…

Finds the code for a piece of work in an electronic bill of costs (Precedent S, PD 47 Schedule 2) by code or by the work done: phases P1 to P15, tasks T1 to T41, activities A1 to A10, expenses X1 to X15 and the matching J-codes, with each task's Precedent H budget phase.

Answers costs questions from solicitors in England and Wales, on either side of a claim: budgets, Part 36, settlement, detailed assessment, interest and getting paid. Searches about 30 short answers, each citing its CPR rule, practice direction or statute, a glossary of legal costs terms, and a guide to the court forms and costs precedents (N252, N254, N258, N260, Precedents A to U, and the forms for trial, enforcement and appeals such as N170, N265, N293A, N349, N379 and N161), with the official version of each form and the free tool that fills it in. Use it for 'what is', 'when must', 'who p…