Answer: when a claimant, who is a party to “no win no fee” conditional fee agreement (CFA) with his solicitor, dies before a “win” in litigation is achieved. In that eventuality, the “death” clause, which is a feature of most CFAs, takes effect: the CFA is terminated immediately and the solicitor is entitled to claim “basic costs” (as defined) for work undertaken to that date, irrespective of the stage which the litigation has reached. It follows that, although the much trumpeted expression “win or lose the case, it won’t cost you a penny” will be true in the sense that the claimant will pay nothing, that is only because he or she is no more: it will be for the personal representatives to settle the affairs of the deceased claimant out of his or her estate if there are sufficient funds available, for example from the sale of the family home, in order to do so.
