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Divorce/separation

Here you'll find divorce help and support from other Mners. For legal advice, you may find Advice Now guides useful.

Original poster

Finances - instruct a solicitor before or after financial disclosure?

7 replies

Nearlyalldone · 26/07/2022 13:23

Hi - just wanted to ask for your advice.

Don’t have the decree nisi yet, but am starting to think about the financial settlement.

I have a rough idea of future ex-husband’s current salary (much higher than mine) and that he has much higher savings than me (plus shares, investments etc). We jointly own a mortgaged house - I currently live there with our 2 children. The children predominantly live with me (I have a ‘lives with’ court order).

I have no idea what my ex is planning to offer for the financial settlement but his solicitor has already mentioned the need to agree a settlement to mine. In terms of the correct time to instruct my solicitor to deal with the financial settlement, I’m planning to wait until a full financial disclosure (salary, savings, investments, shares, assets) on both sides has taken place. My aim is to keep my legal costs down as much as possible because my ex is extremely disorganised as well as being secretive, so he’s likely to delay his disclosure and ramp up my legal fees in the process!

Does it make sense for me to wait until the financial disclosure has been made before I instruct my solicitor for the settlement negotiation? I don’t think that I need any advice from a solicitor before then. This seems like a low-risk option to me but I thought I’d check it with you guys.

With regards to pensions, we’re both a similar age (early 40s), have both been paying into pensions since we started our careers in our early 20s, and have 20yrs plus left before we retire. We both work full-time in professional jobs (although he earns at least £20,000 more a year than me due to the nature of his profession). Would these circumstances mean that pensions won’t be factored into our financial settlement as we’ll both be independently financially secure when we retire in 20yrs+?

Thanks

OP posts:
carjan · 26/07/2022 15:33

My ex instructed a solicitor at the very earliest stages of negotiations. He was offering me silly amounts that I was never going to accept. I did all the replies myself and got to the stage where I had collated all the information prior to instructing a solicitor. My advice would be to do the same as there is so much backwards and forwards between solicitors that the costs soon escalate. It has cost me so far £4k just to get to an agreement of a settlement and that was without me initially instructing. Every bit of contact costs me £26 for 6 minutes, so when my solicitor gets an email off his she charges to read it, then charges to send it me, then charges to read my reply, then charges to reply back to me, then charges to read my reply and finally charges to reply back to his solicitor. It's just an ongoing cycle. Get all the information you need and then go to the solicitor. They are only going to collect it in the same way you are.

DenholmElliot1 · 26/07/2022 15:38

Good advice from @carjan.

You could also go one further and just represent yourself completely, going straight for a final court hearing if he won't agree to a sensible offer. You can always hire a direct access barrister on the day to help you negotiate. At the very least I would apply for the financial disclosure myself and I'd also apply for a preliminary financial hearing myself which is where a judge tells you how he would split the assets IF he were the judge that does that.

Hope that helps.

DenholmElliot1 · 26/07/2022 15:39

Forgot to add you don't have to wait for your ex to make an offer. You can get in first and make an offer and take it from there.

millymollymoomoo · 26/07/2022 15:52

How old are the children?
how long have you been married
if you both work full time and both have same pensions ( as you state) this could be a simple 50:50
yes you earn less but you state it’s the nature of profession rather than you being part time etc
what are you proposing ?

letters back and forth can be costly, as can going to court where usually no one is satisfied. Can you negotiate and agree yourselves?

Original poster
Nearlyalldone · 26/07/2022 16:20

carjan · 26/07/2022 15:33

My ex instructed a solicitor at the very earliest stages of negotiations. He was offering me silly amounts that I was never going to accept. I did all the replies myself and got to the stage where I had collated all the information prior to instructing a solicitor. My advice would be to do the same as there is so much backwards and forwards between solicitors that the costs soon escalate. It has cost me so far £4k just to get to an agreement of a settlement and that was without me initially instructing. Every bit of contact costs me £26 for 6 minutes, so when my solicitor gets an email off his she charges to read it, then charges to send it me, then charges to read my reply, then charges to reply back to me, then charges to read my reply and finally charges to reply back to his solicitor. It's just an ongoing cycle. Get all the information you need and then go to the solicitor. They are only going to collect it in the same way you are.

Perfect, thank you. This is the process I was thinking of (minus the £4000 ☹️, I’m sorry)!

OP posts:
Original poster
Nearlyalldone · 26/07/2022 16:25

millymollymoomoo · 26/07/2022 15:52

How old are the children?
how long have you been married
if you both work full time and both have same pensions ( as you state) this could be a simple 50:50
yes you earn less but you state it’s the nature of profession rather than you being part time etc
what are you proposing ?

letters back and forth can be costly, as can going to court where usually no one is satisfied. Can you negotiate and agree yourselves?

Answers

  1. Both kids under 10. They predominantly live with me at the family home - I have a ‘lives with’ court order. Ex moved out over a year ago and rents a 2 bed place (no housemates).
  2. Married approx 20yrs
  3. Both work full time in professional jobs, for the same no. of years after graduating, both have pensions - his pension is likely to be higher than mine as his salary is higher
OP posts:
Original poster
Nearlyalldone · 26/07/2022 16:28

DenholmElliot1 · 26/07/2022 15:38

Good advice from @carjan.

You could also go one further and just represent yourself completely, going straight for a final court hearing if he won't agree to a sensible offer. You can always hire a direct access barrister on the day to help you negotiate. At the very least I would apply for the financial disclosure myself and I'd also apply for a preliminary financial hearing myself which is where a judge tells you how he would split the assets IF he were the judge that does that.

Hope that helps.

Might well consider this when I see how his communication plays out over the financial disclosure…

OP posts:
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