Alternative Costs Resolution® (ACR) is an alternative solution to expensive and time consuming Court Costs Assessments and Taxation process.
ACR is an Australia-wide, independent and impartial assessment process, conducted strictly in accordance with the principles of the Law of Costs, where party/party (or standard) costs are sought to be recovered. Decisions are made by experienced and impartial Costs Lawyers.
Drafting Bills of Costs, Notices of Objections, Responses and Replies to Responses (NSW) or attendances at Taxation are no longer required. There is no requirement for any special inclusion clauses in Costs Orders or Deeds or Release, other than the standard 'costs to be agreed, or assessed'.
A willingness and a simple agreement between the parties to participate in the ACR* process, will ensure both parties obtain the maximum benefit. To apply, the parties simply submit an ACR Application Form this will provide QCA an Authority* to participate. An Authority number will then be issued and the party recovering costs then opts to submit their file to the ACR process.
You only need one good reason to select the ACR process, but here are three:
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Time wasted in costs disputes are reduced by up to 12 months or more when compared to the average Court Costs Assessments or Taxation process.
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Fees for the Costs Dispute Process can be reduced by in excess of 50%. This usually equates to tens of thousands of dollars when compared to average Court Costs Assessment or Taxation process.
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Consistency of Decisions by Costs Lawyers, this is because they have had many years of experience in legal costing and managing Court Costs Assessments and Taxations.
1. comparison is an average time from the first instruction to issuing a Certificate of Determination.
2. comparison are average costs associated with drafting work including Bills of Costs, Notices of Objections, Responses, Replies to Responses (NSW), filing fees, costs of the Court Assessment, attendances at Taxation etc.
