Divorce and financial disclosure

[missha20]

I am after some practical advise on assets disclosure at divorce. Short story is we dont have a join bank account and solicitor told me despite of that both of us has to disclose bank balances to evaluate financial situation. He is earning 3 times more than me but gambled all money away plus has a debt on his credit card. I was always paying for expenses like food bills, childcare costs, family holiday etc literally we contribute the same apportion of our earnings to the family budget. But I was saving all these years and he wasted away 25 k on gambling and online dating. I dont want any spousal support -only child maintenance and sort out the join mortgage but really dont want to disclosure my savings. It is just not right as he made his choice how to spend his earning on his vice. Not sure what will happened on my savings disclosure. Does anybody knows the implications? Thank you.

For disclosure it doesn't matter whether you have joint accounts or not. I am guessing your solicitor is talking about Form E. Here, you each have to supply 12 months' worth of bank statements, amongst other documentation. You also have to declare your savings etc. If your solicitor is talking about Form E then you can download this here and you'll see what is asked for.

I hope that helps.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-e-financial-statement-for-a-financial-order-matrimonial-causes-act-1973-civil-partnership-act-2004-for-financial-relief-after-an-overseas

sorry wrong link... use this one

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/951185/form-e-eng.pdf

Everything has to be disclosed even savings. If he's a gambler then there is abig incentive to you to wrap all this up as quickly as you can before he accrues more debt. Playing silly games and hiding assets will just delay things.

His gambling debts has nothing to do with me as we dont have joined credit card. My friend is bank manager and she explained me the regulations about personal responsibilities which actually disclosed on credit card contract. Solicitor told me exactly the same- only thing that can happened is if we sell the house his debts could be paid off his equity share part.

You have to disclose it
Then argue why you don’t think it should be split
Divorce looks at total assets and liabilities regardless who of owns what, and what is in whose name
A fair split does not mean 50:50. Can mean anything between that

StephenBelafonte -thank you, yes for E. Sorry just let me get it right -I would need to provide 12 months bank statement which is rubbish as i was going to withdraw all funds in cash. What if I refuse to disclose? What happened then? Pretty sure he will refuse anyway as all his betting on his bank statement- this is how I found out about it. I know that judge /solicitor doesnt care about any moral side of the story but I dont want to be seen in the better position financially just because I was saving and he was gambling. He never support me or family financially as I work full time and we shared the bills in proportions to our wages. He did not have any saving when we married so 25 k deposit on the house were also mine, it is no matter now as is joined mortgage and by law is 50/50 share. What will happened if his solicitor will see I have 20 k savings and he has nothing (but again you can see from his bank statements he just gambling 2500 a month )? Would it matter on financial settlement?

Unfortunately nobody is going to care that you are the responsible one and he is irresponsible. I really feel for you - I was in a similar situation. My ex squandered money and ran up debts on porn and prostitutes. I worked (part time) and earned a lot more than him, I provided for the kids and was totally sensible. He went off with 55%. The law is an ass. You have to disclose because otherwise the court will look unfavourably on you. The moral of this tale is never marry. I’m sorry you are learning this way.

Sorry meant noideawhatusernametochoose instead of StephenBelafonte, not sure how to edit my post

If I had 20k savings and was married to a gambling arsehole i'd happily hand over 10k to get rid of him and consider it money well spent lol!

Your solicitor is best placed to advise what will happen to your savings. Courts don't really care what either of you spend your spare cash on though. They look at whether your incomes are enough to house you. If his income is enough, the fact that he chooses to spend it in the bookies is irrelevant. And tbh as there's a house involved £10k is peanuts compared to the value of the split of that asset.

TorringtonDean -we are looking at financial settlement through mediation as solicitor advised. At least trying to get to agreement and avoid the court battle. Husband also doesnt want to go to court but again we need to provide financial disclosure. My understanding if we both agreed on information provided -let say I know he has private pension but offered to give up in order to get bigger share on the house equity.

titchy- solicitor just said to disclose, she said it part of negations of assets split. That why I will not to be seen by my husband solicitor in favourable side to give a space for manoeuvre and have 50 -50 split as I have saving and he doesnt.

I guess it depends how “reasonable” your ex may be. I’d guess not very if he’s a gambling addict. Nobody was interested that I earned the bigger share for more than 20 years AND did most of the kids’ stuff AND still support them now. He was playing hardball and called it “equality”. I’d call it financial abuse legally sanctioned. Or put simply, theft.

I am supporting a friend thru divorce.
Loads of times she has got caught up on some principle about what she thinks is 'fair' -- and this has delayed her progressing the paperwork, such as Form E.
In meantime, he continues to merrily spend their 'joint' money.

Friend will lose more ££££ by the delay to the paperwork than she is going to gain by campaigning hard for a 'fair' settlement.

Depends on your numbers but I suspect you aren't in such a different situation. Moving thing swiftly could be your best strategy.

@lljkk I think we've all got a friend like that!

lljkk -we dont have any joint money. The only joint asset we have is house with joined mortgage. I am not after anything except child maintenance which purely depends on his income and his input into child care which is zero at the moment. He left me to deal with home schooling while working full time to pay bills. I decided to leave 5k on my current bank account and do not provide 12 months bank statement, at least mediator doesnt ask for that yet. He still refusing to disclose his credit card debt. Good job I was looking after all paperwork and have his private pension statement so I know how to play it on the house split.

Hope it works for you, OP.

I knew a gal delayed her divorce for years because her 2b-X was a druggie who had never paid into the mortgage. the delay meant he racked up equity on the shared asset (house). I suppose she was hoping he would die & she would never have to ever share!