Are assets split from date of seperation?

[Sprig1]

As above really. We have been separated approx. 18 months. The financials have dragged on as ex has changed his mind numerous times about agreements made and provided figures he did not have paperwork to back up. Finally he has applied for his CETV so we should have that shortly. It will be as at the date they send it to him He thinks that means we should count all other assets as at the current date too. I think they should be as at date of separation and pension value factored accordingly. What is the official line on this one (if there is one?). Thanks

Bumping for you OP, hope you are still about.

Don't think there is an official line. I was dragged to court in the UK, there were 3 pensions, 2 UK ones, 1 non UK one, they all had different dates no them for CETV, indeed the non UK pension didn't have a CETV at all. The judge took the values on the dates, what else could he do?

Similarly, I happened to have shifted some of my kids' money temporarily into an account in my name (kids' money the judge ringfenced) in order to gain extra interest. The judge originally took the "assets" on the day of court and took this 2k in my name as a marital asset. I protested that was completely unfair, given I was trying to gain the kids some more interest and that the same money was being ringfenced and taken out of the marital assets pot, then counted inside it. So I went immediately online and moved the money back the the kids' accounts, the judge then took the assets as 2k less. So only on my own experience, the judge takes values of any family assets as to what he has in front of him as evidence on the day, not what WAS available at time of separation.

Having said that, my husband also withdrew 34k of family assets and for a year denied the existence of these assets, as did his lawyer. Finally on court day and under oath, he admitted he didn't just withdraw this money, he admitted he spent the whole lot in order to deny his children and myself from it being a family asset. So the judge ordered that the 34k be deducted from my husband's settlement. So for this asset, it was the value of the asset, had it not been spent already, on the day of the trial, as interest was also added back onto this 34k too. It was a hellish fight to get my husband to acknowledge the existence of this money and boy did it hurt that a lawyer, despite the evidence shown to her, continued to lie and tell me it did not exist.

So on my experience alone, it's the values ON THE DAY or the values of assets removed, had they still existed, ON THE DAY.

Our experience was opposite to cannotsee.

Dh' ex removed 15k from the joint account and spent it. In court there was nothing to be done, it was gone. Everyone knew it had been there, and she'd withdrawn it, but couldn't force her to repay Dh.

I represented myself, as my husband had emptied the bank accounts and was living abroad, couldn't find a lawyer willing to trust me to pay the bill after settlement, so I asked for something like "avoidance of disposition" order?? Sorry I am not a legal expert. My husband accepted what he had done, the judge's speech at the end was 20 minutes long about how you do not go and spend assets, empty accounts, try to sell your children's home to fund your new and more expensive lifestyle. The judge did as much as he could legally to compensate for the children's situation.

It is morally repugnant to dispose of assets, and there are some legal ways to get compensated. I went to massive lengths to be as prudent when my husband abandoned me, but then again, since he took almost everything he could, I was being prudent only with what I had left to survive on. I provided the judge with accounts of all transactions post separation, to prove what I had continued to spend was done only in the interests of the kids.

It's a hard one really, yes it's assets on the day, when someone has disposed of joint assets or spent more than the other side of joint assets, who loses? It's usually the kids isn't it?

Even if the judge had been unable to deduct what my husband had disposed of, at least I was able to hold my head up in court and I am able to tell the children I never spent and made bad financial decisions to spite their dad or to hurt them. Any parent who does that needs a good mental whipping.

Thanks everyone. It seems so unfair doesn't it. In our situation it is not money disposed of that I am worried about (although there is a little bit of that on his side). Rather, money that I have earned since we split (he left me!) that I do not want to share with him.

If you live in Scotland assets are usually valued at time of separation. In England & Wales the value of assets around the time of the financial settlement need to be disclosed. However there is an argument that the value of any asset that didn't originate from the marriage and accrued during a long separation by the efforts of one party alone are non matrimonial.