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.

This is why people are reluctant to marry these days. The law is a piss take.

I suspect its because @ConflictedCheetah's husband can chase but if she refuses to do anything then he is stuck.

Not sure that's true @FrippEnos. Definitely ways to keep pushing the process through and less financially impactful at time than years later when lives have moved on and more assets accumulated

@ConflictedCheetah and @thatneverhappened he can’t, because he got married. Marriage to someone new extinguishes most of your abilities to apply for a financial remedies order. The other person, if they don’t remarry, can though.

A friend of mine is going through this. She was not advised by the solicitor dealing with the divorce that she needed the clean break agreement. Finances were agreed but the need for this document was brought up three years later by a financial advisor.

Ex is now very reluctant to sign. Why would he be? He is the weaker party financially and he’s had his payout so there’s absolutely no benefit to him in doing so.

There needs to be more awareness of this.

@TreetopsSun I read @FrippEnos post differently maybe. I agree this stuff needs sorting at time of divorce, no excuses

@Mummytummy123 refers to him as her DP, not DH so doesn't seem like he has remarried in which he really should be pushing to sort it out.

OP whilst legally she can pursue, I suspect a judge would not look favourably on someone that had child maintenance paid for 12 plus years ie. Supported herself, and is now looking for another bite of the cherry because she doesn’t wish to work.

Unless your DH is a tycoon (like previous link)

worst case is there might be a pension sharing order backdated and reassessment of assets at time of split. You’ll not be homeless and your DH won’t be without a pension. Remember his family circumstances will also be taken into account.

it’s a pain to have to sort this now and pay legal fees though.

has she instructed a solicitor yet?

I wonder if your husband may have cause for a negligence claim from his divorce solicitor if they misadvised him or failed to advise him about a clean break?
I mean if they did and he just chose not to do it at the time of course that’s his own mistake.
when I divorced about 10 years ago my solicitor very clearly explained the clean break to me and told me exactly what it meant, giving examples very similar to your husbands current situation.

I don't think it’s true that something solely in your name could go to her. Even a house does not belong to both spouses if it’s in one person’s name. The spouse not on the deeds has occupation rights but not ownership rights unless they divorce. That’s why there’s protection from debt if the house is in one person’s name only.

This is pretty common and normal- if she gave up work to raise her son expecting her husband to support her that support doesn't stop just because the romantic relationship ends. And it's judged on both party's 'needs' he'll obviously need less if he has someone to share living costs with and she doesn't.
Anyone else in this position- never live with or marry a divorced man unless they have a financial order.

Follow the legal Queen on Instagram she gives good info about these kind of things.

Potentially if you don't have a financial order

After looking into this, she can't come after anything solely in your name.
However, she could state that your husband has a beneficiary interest in something that's solely in your name, but she'd have to prove that.

An ex partner cannot claim directly from a new partner:
https://www.divorcefinancetoolkit.co.uk/2013/07/can-my-ex-claim-money-from-my-new-partner/

I hope it works out for you @Joco34

It's called the remarriage trap

This is a few months old regarding the house owned by OP and partner ex wife would have , has to financially been involved with their home in the 13 months before claims on it
the judge will look at what the ex had to do it when it was purchased, did she live in it was it brought with divorce proceedings.

Not like that it doesn’t. The exact has no claim on assets owned by a new wife.

she can’t expect someone to support her not to work after they broke up 14 years ago

Good grief!! Why on earth wasn't everything settled at the time of the divorce? My ex and I finalised the finances when we separated (we aren't divorced yet, 22 years later!)

I'd test that with a solicitor.

nobody on a social media platform (unless they are a qualified experienced solicitor can say absolutely that post divorce assets are up for grabs by the DHs ex. There are many circumstances to be considered.

None of the OPs assets will be in scope, that's for sure, so the DH needs to commission a solicitor to do a thorough assessment of all assets and determine what the ex actually has any claim on. The ex can't just ride roughshod claiming assets they have zero claim on,

Eg the marital home purchased after divorce will be assessed on the basis of total equity less 50% that belongs to the OP and then the remainder will depend on whether any of the equity came from proceeds of marital home during the DHs marriage to the ex.

there are too many ifs and buts to be able to advise on here,

It’s not at all morally wrong in the case of an own business that ran while they were together, that’s exactly where it’s right. That’s something a partner usually supports them to build and develop but may only be worth a significant amount down the track and you find this out when it’s sold. If they are salary people it does seem wrong.

But if the financials have already been sorted for a clean break then they will already have been paid for the part that they played in the business.

I have a complicated situation. My husband has just received a letter from his ex-wife's lawyer. They have been divorced since 2019. He had a pension fund that he had completely forgotten about. He paid into it over 35 years ago when The Man from The Pru used to come and collect his subs at the door. When everything went online, he stopped paying and literally forgot it existed. We have just received correspondence indicating that she is challenging him for half. However the reason for the query is that the information that the claim is based on is completely untrue. So we're trying to understand the reality of this. Can anyone share any advice?

@Sweetsathome id start your own thread and also post in legal matters

Yes. He could win the lottery and she would still be entitled to half. Everything purchased and owned since they split will be taken into account. Lets say he has a car on finance and put 10k down on it...she will be entitled to 5k from that even though he doesn't own it outright...nothing is exempt not even premium bonds bought for a child. I am dealing with this situation.

@adv1ce1987 nonsense. She wouldn’t be entitled to half automatically even if still married.

she’d be entitled to make a claim on assets
until a consent order is made but chance of success varies significantly depending on many many factors - and time will diminish chance of success further