Who pays legal fees in custody and finances court cases?

I'm going through an acrimonious divorce and am currently awaiting court cases for both custody and finances.

I earn £76K and my STBX refuses to work but currently receives universal credit.

Is there any expectation that a financially stronger spouse would be expected to pay legal fees for a financially weaker spouse? Or is each person responsible for their own legal fees?

The research I've done suggests that it's likely that each spouse would be responsible for their own legal fees except in extreme circumstances. Is this accurate?

Normally each side pays their own costs in applications such as these. However, in the circumstances you describe I doubt that it would be reasonable for your wife to be disadvantaged because you have a deeper pocket than she does. What she could do is apply to the court for maintenance pending suit and for that application to contain provision for her.

I would suggest that you look at this link and, in particular, paragraph 38 of the judgement.

[www.familylawweek.co.uk]

In this case the wife had absolutely not funds to pursue a legal claim against her wealthy ex husband. The court dealt with that by ordering him to pay her a lump sum in order to be able to pay her legal costs.