Ex applied to court for Financial Order

[Coco0123]

Will try to keep this as brief as possible.
Ex H and I separated 4 years ago, joint mortgage. I stayed with the 2 young DC's at the house for a year paying all the mortgage (which was a struggle). During all this time ex would not communicate, I moved to rented property and after a short time of trying to sell the joint property I rented it out. Rent was only covering the mortgage/house maintenace/insurance etc.

There is no equity in the property. Ex has wanted his deposit back it seems (I put more deposit in than him and accept that it is gone!) and i had solicitor letters requesting a large sum for a 'clean break.' Then his solicitor wanted financial disclosure, i refused to this as ex is self employed and it will be just nonsense what his 'disclosure', would be. (I have had no child support in the 4 years - CSA came back that his net income was less than 5 pound a week

So, now my tenants have moved out. Ex has been offered the house completely to do with as he wishes, i want nothing from him. This offer has been ignored by his solicitor & himself and now i have received a letter from court to file Form E to them & attend Financial Dispute Resolution appointment.
I have put the house on the market just before I received the court letter, with help from family I will be paying the mortgage and hoping for a quick sale. Now I am wondering if I should just stop paying! I have got nowhere with my solicitor in 2 years now. He will not pay the mortgage but seems to think he deserves a pot of gold for doing feck all for 4 whole years. As well as not supporting the children he does not see them, entirely his choice.

I suppose my questions are: what kind of costs am i going to be looking at to fight this? I understand my legal aid does not cover court for financial disputes. So I am going to have to get loans to pay for this!
I know court will not be too interested in the fact that he does not pay child support as it is a CSA matter. But surely he would be looked badly upon as leading me to more debt when I have the 2 children to single handedly support so this will have an effect on them.
Any thoughts/experience would be much appreciated & sorry for the ramble, was meant to be brief!

[RedHelenB]

Self rep - if you are prepared to give the house to him no point paying any more money out.

[Collaborate]

If you qualify for LA on DV grounds it can be extended to cover the finances. Have you thought if how it will be if he can't get you released from the mortgage?

[mineofuselessinformation]

I divorced xh, but he took me to court for the financial settlement (I would not agree to what he wanted in terms of dividing finances).
It took five hours of court time, but ultimately it was a settlement which I believe was very fair to me, so therefore very worth the money it cost me.
You could go to court but ask for costs to be awarded. IME, judges in these matters are very experienced and fair.

[Collaborate]

Costs are almost never awarded in financial cases.

[mumsforjustice]

Don't stop paying the mortgage as the house may then be forclosed on and you could be left with no house and residul mortgage and bad credit record. If you can quick sell it and repay mortgage then might be a good idea. (I was not clear btw why you and dc don't just live in it?). Go through the court process (and self rep its not hard) and comply with form e disclosure but make a claim for maintenance from him. If you have no other assets to share and your income is only covering your and dc needs he's likely to get nothing in assets and an order for him to pay you maintenance. The courts will assess on his income potential (csa uses taxable income ie usually wages not self employed earnings), so if he's capable of working he will be expected to and no bs from him will help! The court process is very painful but is generally fair and pro-mum esp to a woman in your situation with dc and deadbeat dad.

[Joy5]

I'm in the family court early January and self-repping as i just can't afford any more legal costs. My ex filed the papers, and he has his large income to fund his legal costs.

Theres a really good book

'Family courts without a lawyer : a handbook for litigants in person / Lucy Reed'

explains all the process and what happens when. The forms are straightforward, and theres examples in the book of how to complete them.

Fingers crossed i get a fair settlement, and hope you do too.