Can DP's STBExW claim from me in Divorce negotiations?

[FredaMayor]

This seems to be a grey area and I'm confused: on the one hand I'm told that I am not a party in the matter so the other side can ask for my financial information, but I am not obliged to give unless it goes to court and I am compelled to by the court; on the other (which I've gathered from lawyer's websites) it seems that I will be expected to disclose my finances in a general way to the other side's solicitor even if it doesn't go to court.

I am very keen not to have to disclose anything because from my own experience, with bank statements for instance, a lot of private information then becomes available to a potentially hostile person to use as the whim might take them.

I don't have any wealth or a high income, t
here are no children involved and I don't have any of my own legal representation.

PS, we are cohabiting.

As you cohabit court procedure requires your new partner to disclose what he know about your finances. His wife cannot claim anything from you, the only reason why your finances are relevant is because you should be contributing towards your household's expenditure and that reduces your new partner's living costs.

If your new partner doesn't know any details of your finances he cannot disclose them. Potentially the court could order you to produce documents if it was felt relevant but that is unlikely. However if solicitors or judges court don't know how much you contribute it could be inferred you are contributing more than you are. Therefore your new partner could be deemed to have more disposable income than he actually has and that could have a negative impact on his finances.