Ex in Dubai

[Katieturbo]

Hi all,

Has anyone dealt with post divorce finances when ex left the country to Dubai?.

unfortunately communication broke down a while back and I have no idea where he’s working or living .

Solicitor says it’s almost impossible to get anything done .

Dubai is in the UAE, which is a "non-REMO" country. In layman's terms that means it is very hard to enforce a court order made in the UK in Dubai. For example, you might struggle to force him to tell you what he is earning or enforce a maintenance order if relevant. If however he works for a UK company you might get some traction.

So when the solicitor said it was almost impossible, they were right. There are probably steps that could be taken but they would probably cost a lot and gain very little. Also, your solicitor probably won't have the competence to take on the work, it is extremely specialist.

Thanks for your reply .

yes that’s my thoughts too here .

definitely doesn’t work for a UK company either .

The costs trying will no doubt be extremely expensive? with no guarantees of a result either .

Has anyone else been through something similar?.

I've only seen second hand accounts in other posts here and elsewhere. I have never come across anyone who was successful unless the overseas spouse was working for a UK company (and even then, I've seen threads where the ex just moved to a non-UK company).

The only examples I've seen where there has been a silver lining are one where the spouse in the UK got 90% of the assets with a clean break because of the low likelihood the overseas spouse would pay in the future from the UAE and another where a spouse was arrested and detained until they paid backdated maintenance on a visit to the UK.

I guess it depends on what your position is now. What do you both earn; what are the assets; where are those assets situated? A UK court can still make a decision, they just can't enforce anything outside UK borders and you can't enforce anything outside the reach of REMO.

Arrested ?, never heard of that before 😯. Why don’t they arrest those in the UK that don’t pay too . I’m surprised they can arrest , must of been certain conditions to do that as what if the guy genuinely was bankrupt. I’d say proof he had funds for that to happen or other evidence.

so a judge can rule in his absence and award me the house ?.

It’s so frustrating.

I think this case was the exception to the norm! It's quite rare for payers to pay nothing for years and years and arrest can make things worst (earning and therefore paying nothing rather than something) so it doesn't happen often. Also, the person arrested had the means to pay and was forced to do so; had he been bankrupt he would have been free as you can't go to prison for non payment if you genuinely cannot afford it.

In your situation if there is a house in the UK you might find a judge awards you a higher percentage of it if it is likely that you won't get child maintenance due. It gets quite complex though because technically he could come back and you could start a claim despite receiving capital to offset. There was a recent case where the judge essentially ruled anything received in child maintenance by a woman who had previously made such an agreement with her ex husband would be payable back to him but as you can probably tell this is rare and specialist for solicitors!

It’s very complex yes 😯.

And I highly doubt there’s many specialists that can handle such a situation.

Not to mention the costs associated would be enormous.

I don’t know what steps to take .

I would begin by treating it as an abandonment case. Get a solicitor who would treat it like any other where one spouse walks out. Get the asset split resolved on the basis that he will be an unreliable payer.

That will sort out the assets. Future income streams you'll probably have to give up on I'm afraid, but do get an English court to award you child maintenance and let the meter run should he ever decide to come back.

He’s a smart operator so he’ll be wise to certain moves if I attempt them he will no doubt counteract them .

He will deny he ever received any communication.

I don’t have the funds to keep it going long enough that’s the problem too .

solicitors are so costly without this complexity.

He could also pay £100 per month which would undo the court metre . I can’t prove what he earns , he could also say he was unemployed.

Judges tend to be very intelligent people with little regard for smart operators.