Legal fees aren't necessarily locked in as a cost each spouse simply absorbs on their own. Alberta courts have real authority to order one spouse to pay some or all of the other's legal costs, and understanding when that happens changes how a divorcing spouse should think about conduct throughout the case, not just the outcome.
Yes, an Alberta court can order one spouse to pay some or all of the other's legal fees in a divorce, generally based on overall success in the litigation and each party's conduct along the way, including unreasonable behaviour, incomplete disclosure, or rejecting a reasonable settlement offer. A divorce attorney in Calgary can help you understand how cost exposure applies to your specific situation.
Under the Alberta Rules of Court, a court has discretion to order costs in most family law proceedings, meaning one party pays toward the other's legal expenses. This isn't automatic in every case, and family law costs decisions tend to be more nuanced than in general civil litigation, since divorce cases often involve mixed results where each spouse succeeds on some issues and not others.
A court considers several factors when deciding whether to award costs and how much:
No single factor automatically decides the outcome; a judge weighs the overall picture of how the case was conducted.
Certain behaviours during a divorce are more likely to result in a cost award against the party responsible, regardless of how the substantive issues get decided:
Most cost awards in Alberta follow a standard tariff, sometimes called partial indemnity or party-and-party costs, which covers a portion of the winning party's legal fees based on a set schedule, not the full amount actually spent.
In more serious cases, involving bad faith, dishonesty, or particularly unreasonable conduct, a court can order solicitor-client costs, a much higher, closer-to-full-indemnity award, reserved for conduct that goes well beyond ordinary litigation disagreement.
A formal settlement offer made during a case can affect the cost outcome later, even if the case eventually reaches a hearing or trial. If a party rejects a reasonable offer and then ends up with a less favourable result than what was offered, the court can factor that into a cost award, sometimes significantly increasing the costs owed by the party who rejected the offer. This is part of why evaluating a settlement offer honestly, rather than reflexively rejecting it, matters even when a case feels adversarial.
Cost awards aren't limited to the conclusion of a case. A party who brings a poorly grounded interim application, or who causes unnecessary delay at a specific stage, can be ordered to pay costs related to that specific step, regardless of how the overall divorce eventually resolves. This means conduct at every stage of a case carries potential cost consequences, not just the outcome.
| Type | What It Covers | When It's Typically Ordered |
| Partial indemnity (party-and-party) | A portion of legal fees, based on a standard tariff | The more common outcome, tied to overall success and conduct |
| Solicitor-client costs | Close to full indemnity of actual legal fees | Reserved for bad faith, dishonesty, or particularly unreasonable conduct |
| No cost award | Neither party pays the other's fees | When results are genuinely mixed, and conduct was reasonable on both sides |
THEBIL Family Law helps clients understand how their conduct and decisions throughout a case, including how they respond to settlement offers, can affect cost exposure, not just the substantive outcome. A divorce attorney in Calgary who factors this in from the start helps clients make more informed decisions at every stage.
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Yes. Alberta courts have discretion to award costs based on overall success and each party's conduct during the case, including disclosure compliance and responses to settlement offers.
Not automatically. Family law cases often involve mixed results, and courts weigh conduct throughout the case, not just a simple win-or-lose outcome.
Incomplete financial disclosure, unnecessary court applications, non-compliance with orders, bad faith conduct, and rejecting a reasonable settlement offer can all factor into a cost award.
Partial indemnity covers a portion of legal fees based on a standard tariff, while solicitor-client costs are much higher, reserved for serious misconduct like bad faith or dishonesty.
Yes. If you reject a reasonable offer and end up with a worse result, a court can factor that into a cost award against you.
Yes. Costs can be ordered at any stage, including for a specific interim application, regardless of the eventual outcome of the broader case.
Provide complete disclosure, take settlement offers seriously, avoid unnecessary applications, and comply with existing orders and deadlines throughout the case.
Yes. THEBIL Family Law helps clients understand how specific decisions, including responses to settlement offers, can affect their cost exposure as the case develops.
Understanding your cost exposure is part of making informed decisions throughout a divorce. THEBIL Family Law can walk through how this applies to your situation. Book a consultation to talk through your case.
