Bankruptcy—Trustee in bankruptcy—Costs

Court of Appeal, Civil Division, Lord Neuberger MR, Aikens and Lewison LJJ, 27 Oct 2011

There is no general rule that if a trustee in bankruptcy assigns a claim on terms that the bankrupt’s estate will receive a share of any recovery on the claim, no order for costs will be made against him if the claim fails.

Rebecca Page (instructed by Howes Perceval) for the claimant. Adam Deacock (instructed by Burton Woolf & Turk) for H. The Prince was not represented and did not appear.

The first defendant, H, claimed to have married the late HRH the King of Saudi Arabia in secret in 1968. In May 2003, several years after they had separated, her solicitors sent a draft statement to the King, setting out the basis of a claim which she was bringing against him under s 27 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. She claimed