Husbands ex wife coming after pension, our house and money years after divorce as no financial settlement at time.

[Joco34]

Needing some advice urgently please. Husband and I have been together 14 years, 2 children 12 and 10. They have an 18 year old together. At time of divorce there was no financial settlement. They were married for approximately 7 years and had relatively equal pensions during that time. Was told that no party would get substantial amount from other after getting pension advice. She has been unreasonable and unwilling to let things move on for our entire marriage. CMS stops in 6 months so now we have her going after our house that my husband and I bought, my husbands pension and anything else she can get after receiving a letter from her today. She doesn't work and thinks we will continue to pay her way.
Can she claim for things after they divorced, such as pension that my husband has paid into since they have separated? Does it make a difference that we have children and the money is 'ours?'. I'm so worried as I know what she is capable of.
Any advice gratefully received.
We will be getting legal advice when we can.

Hi! Not sure if it's the same but my mum is currently going through this with her ex husband. Officially divorced 5 or so years ago, financial settlement just going through now. An actuary has calculated the pension values / split based on the date they divorced - inheritance received since has been disregarded as it was post the official divorce by a few years, so I'm not sure if that's something that is common across finances (e.g an increased pension pot or similar).

I don't know if the right to claim money is different because he's now married again to you? Has she remarried? Hopefully you can get some advice asap, I know this stressed my poor mum out lots!

Technically if she hasn’t remarried she can make a claim

whether she us successful no one here will be able to tell . Unfortunately your dh should have sorted this before marrying and certainly not left it all this time’

you need legal advice

We didn't leave it, we had a solicitor at the time of the divorce and consulted an expert about the pensions, solicitor did not stress the importance of financial settlement, we have obviously taken their advice as they said that pensions were equal so no settlement required!
She hasn't remarried which I understand is how she can continue to make a claim. I just want to know whether it will be restricted to their married duration and not further on into my marriage and financial inputs. Thanks

Oh dear a quick google says that she absolutely can do this

It doesn’t mention your assets but definitely mentions his

Are you much wealthier than she is?

And to think she’s probably been planning this the whole time!

Thankyou. She is very manipulative and yes I think you're right, she has been planning this. We have recently set up a business which is going great. She commented some nasty things on our business page. She obviously knows the CMS is close to ending and wants access to our money still. She even wanted spousal maintenance and my wages taken into consideration during the divorce (3 years after they finished and when we were together). I'm hoping they only take into account the monetary stuff for the duration of the marriage, which will hopefully equal each other out. Thanks

Try and get a specialist lawyer for this.

Your DH needs to start the process of a financial settlement and a clean break. Unfortunately for your DH she has a claim on any financial assets accrued since the divorce.

Unfortunately for your DH she has a claim on any financial assets accrued since the divorce.

Is this really true?

I've nothing to say to help but I'm appalled at this!

She can seek a settlement but if you get a good solicitor they will ask for pension amounts at time of divorce to be figures used. As for your house has she ever lived in it or is it a house you bought with DH ? If she's never lived there and you and DH bought this house she would have no claim on it unless your DH sold their marital home and kept the equity to himself and then used that equity to buy a house with you.

Yes, this is true. The only way to avoid it as far as I’m aware is to get the court to approve a financial settlement or if the claiming spouse gets married. There is some case where the ex-husband earned a significant amount of money by selling a company he started after the divorce and the ex-wife went to court and was awarded her share of the money. I think it had been nearly two decades after they divorced.

I have known people have to sell their house as the Ex came back for a chunk of it after the divorce was finalised.

I am very surprised that the solicitor for the divorce didn't advise that a clean break was in his clients best interest.

until they have a clean break order she can make a claim on all the assets right up until that point whether they were accrued during the marriage or not

of course, no one here can know if she willl be successful or whether a judge would dismiss claims.

either way you need a very good solicitor and not the sane one as before! A quick google search would have told you a clean break consent order was required to prevent this happening !

Op. I would suggest getting as much as possible if you're sole name where possible.

Would you have any recourse via the solicitor if you were poorly advised? Do you have it in writing that a clean break wasn't necessary?

I know there's been cases involving post divorce lottery wins... you need a good solicitor.

This is horrific, I have no idea of the legal position but it just seems so morally wrong.

As far as I know yes she can make a claim and he needs a good solicitor who can make the case that all figures need to be those at the time of the split. However, I think it's potentially more complicated than that. For instance, if her going part time to raise their 18 year old enabled him to start a business that is now really successful, but wasn't making that much when they divorced, then his current wealth is relevant.

It's outrageous your own solicitor didn't advise you to suggest he get a clean break. Assuming you sought legal advice before marriage.

The answer is that it depends on all of the circumstances of your case. There is no automatic rule that limits her claim to anything from during the marriage although she could not claim on your half share of your joint assets, only your husband's.

Fucking hell, I'm horrified by this 😬😬😬

Absolutely gobsmacked and baffled as to how and why this could be true!

@Theredfoxfliesatmidnight I agree, but this is why it's so important to finalise the whole process even if there isn't much to divide or if you leave things with an equal share of everything. One party's life can change dramatically and as long as there is nothing in writing and approved by court nothing is a done deal.

If she hasn’t remarried she can absolutely do this. Your husband should have got a financial clean break order done at the time. Get a good solicitor but be prepared this will cost £££££ a friend’s settlement has cost over £10,000 already in fees and it’s not even been resolved.

Because they didn't get a consent order severing financial ties. Simple

doesn’t make it morally right but divorce is about 2 things

Severing the marriage and severing finances. In ops case her husband only did 1 of those things …..

there have absolutely been cases where women years /decades later have been successful in many claims from their ex husbands hence why op needs very good legal advice

www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-36499818.amp

^ This is a very famous example.

Without a clean break, an ex-spouse can make a future financial claim. As PP, there are other examples of lottery winners having to share the windfall with an ex-spouse.

Yes as @millymollymoomoo says, a marriage is two things - a legal relationship and a financial relationship. They're not the same thing and are severed separately, see https://www.divorce-online.co.uk/finances/financial-orders-in-divorce/

This solicitor who said there was no need for a financial settlement must have been negligent, surely?