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.

Doesn't matter if the business is in her name, it's a marital asset.

Is there a decree absolute, OP?

If there isn’t then op dh is committing bigomy….

This is horrifying! Surely this is an old law that needs updating now that divorce, remarriages and blended families are normal?

the clean break order should be made a compulsory part of the divorce process!

Yep, a good friend of mine had a very short marriage, 5 months, after he discovered her having an affair. She tried to go after everything, house, pension, car, even the wedding list. Thankfully she was told to do one.

Is the house in your name? Also, has the ex-wife remarried? If she has remarried, she can't claim on her ex husband.

@RMNofTikTok I don't think she can come after anything in the OPs sole name? It'd be his sole name or jointly named asest.

For what reason didn't they get the financial consent order sealed and sorted during their divorce?

I always thought it was

1. decree nisi
2. Sort finances
3. decree absolut

Before

1. Getting married again

In my example, I think that's the one you are referring to, the business was set up post divorce and sold many years later, none of it took place whilst still married.

Yes scenario was no financial settlement at time of divorce, solicitors recommended no clean break as dependent child involved. Husband remained in jointly owned home, wife left with child and both had remarried since. Equity on home. House needed selling or re mortgaging into husband's sole name to free wife. Wife asking for years for ex to do this as on her credit rating etc and ex being unreasonable over it. Wife having to rent for years as couldn't get a mortgage due to being tied up in former home. Messy.

Of course she can. They are married, marriage joins your finances.

@RMNofTikTok I didn't realise that. But how would the ex wife know what was a premarital asset?
So ex spouses of your spouse can just go about claiming on things that were owned before remarriage?

This is disgusting! Once divorced your divorced you shouldn't have to give her shit after all these years!!! Disgusting.

Yes she can do this. My solicitor stressed the importance of a clean break arrangement upon my divorce stating if we didn't have one he could come after any inheritances, pensions etc in the future - fucking ridiculous if you ask me.

He would have had to produce a decree absolute at the time of booking his wedding to Op. The decree absolute means their marriage is ended. It doesn't mean that anything financial has ended. It would seem Ops husband left that door open.

And moving it would be an attempt to transfer assets after the exwife has launched a claim. That wouldn't be viewed very favourably by a court.

She is married. She can hold assets in her name but they are still part of the marital pot. Thats what getting married means. You become financially tied.

Good luck OP! I’ve no advice but really do wish you the best.

I think we will have a similar situation with DPs ex wife at some point. She’s even told their children that she won’t be marrying her DP yet…. And she’s made some idle threats that she will claim. She CHOSE to not pay into a pension during their marriage - instead said she would rely on DPs pension and spent all her earnings on clothes, make up etc. Married 13 years - so she can claim half of the time they were married. She’s been paid out for her side of the house though. Her new DP has actively encouraged her to claim against my DP.

Crikey, I'm glad my husbands ex wife remarried - she can't make a claim on our house etc, but can claim my husbands pension
It's bonkers
O.P, I hope your solicitor is able to ring-fence what was in your name so she can't claim it. All the best!

I think a lot of people didn't read/understand the bit in the op where she details that there was no finances sorted during the divorce.
That is the cause of this.
An ex cant, unless exceptional circumstances, come back years after IF the finances are sorted and it's a clean break on divorce.
For whatever reason, the ex couple neglected to do this and left this is all open. And that's why.

Yes, fraud is always the best approach when dealing with the legal system.

I found myself in a similar situation with my ex and his ex wife who didn’t have a clean break. I was contacted for details of my income and I responded saying I didn’t see the relevance of mine as we keep our money separate, the court acknowledged this and didn’t ask me again. They then disregarded an inheritance my ex received two weeks after moving out from their marital home as they considered it an asset after the breakdown of the relationship. He had to pay her a chunk of his pension but that was only from the time they were married and because she didn’t have one (although that was her choice as she worked throughout with a similar wage).

Your DH's lawyer at the time should have explained the importance of having a financial settlement at the time of divorce. If he ends up worse off now as a result of not having been given that advice then, he may have a negligence claim against the solicitor, though that will be subject to the rules on limitation periods.

Why is your DP not sorting a clean break/financial order then? Why wait for her to come after him?

Excellent question @ConflictedCheetah came on to ask same?