Hiding assets

[NamechangingNelly24]

Asking for a friend - genuinely!

Friend is in the process of getting divorced, been many years, all very long and drawn out. Friend left the marital home and agreed to sign it over to ex as part of the divorce settlement.

Ex has moved out of this property and is currently living with new partner, but is letting family stay in marital home.

However the ex is denying that this new property is theirs, stating that it solely in their new partners name and was paid for by their new partner, and has not nentioned it in the financial disclosure. Friend has the title register. Ex is on the mortgage.

Does this change anything? Am I right in thinking this is a case of hiding assets?

It’s hiding assets/false declaration and also reduces needs as they are now adequately housed elsewhere

Is there actually any proof that house is stbxh's ? Why does your friend think this is the case?

@millymollymoomoo thank you, I thought so. So technically friend could request the house be sold now it is clearly no longer needed by ex/adult children?

@Bankholidayhelp friend requested the title register for their exs new property to see who owned it - and their ex jointly owns it with new partner. They owned it before they completed the financial declaration and there is no mention of it on any paperwork and friends ex is insisting that the house is solely their new partners and not in their name.

Yes, so they just need to download a copy of the title deeds and send it to ex saying that you think they've forgotten to declare this asset. Please add it. The exes share of the new property needs to be added the pot of assets. They can’t deny it exists if they’re on the deeds.

If the children are adults and the ex can’t afford to buy her out of her share, the house should be sold. Unless your friend’s assets are still more than the exes or their earnings / pension are such that it would still be fair for the ex to keep it.

Thank you very much @Jonathan70, really helpful. Friend is definitely not in any position for it to be fair to still walk away from the marital home when it's now surplus to requirements. They never were, it was just at the time what they felt morally the right thing to for the children who were then children but are now all adults and not living there.

Would it be best to ask the ex to declare the asset or just let their solicitor know about it?

You friend can ask for the situation to be clarified. There may be not net asset. For example if the deposit was paid by the new partner and is protected. Or it was funded from money saved after the marriage ended. Given the passage of time he may be just not disclosing post marital assets. Which are likely to be excluded from any settlement.

Your friend shouldn’t jump to conclusions and rock the boat on getting what sounds like a good deal - 100% of the equity.

But it needs to be declared to ensure the settlement cannot be challenged.

If I read the first post right, your friend agreed that the house was signed over to their ex - not the other way round. Now the children are adults they want their share of the family home? There wasn’t a legal agreement in place?
Like @LemonTT says, it may be that the new property isn’t an asset as such, in that there may be no equity in it yet, money put in by the new partner may be ringfenced, etc.
It does alter what the ex ‘needs’ though because they are housed and their living costs are shared.
Your friend could just send an email themselves asking them to update the financial disclosure and declare the asset as their name is on the title deeds - attach a copy of the deeds. If they don’t do it, then ask the solicitor to send a letter asking them to include it.

@Jonathan70 exactly, my friend agreed to sign over the marital home to their ex, friend is walking away with nothing. I don't think friend wants anything to do with the new property but I do think that they now given the change of circumstances want to go back on their decision to sign over the marital home and walk away with absolutely nothing.

I think my friend has already signed something stating they intend to walk away with nothing - can that even be changed? Would that even get okayed by the Judge? I've always been concerned about that, nothing in it benefits friend other than agreeing to leave each others pensions alone.

Say my friend messaged the ex and asked them to please declare this new property, and they refuse again stating that it isn't theirs, they aren't on the deeds etc - what then? Would it then be down to friends solicitor to find out the possible reasons for this ie deposit was ringfenced etc? Apologies for all the questions - really appreciate your responses!

If she sends a copy (you can download it) then how can they say it isn’t theirs? The document is from the Land Registry website - £3 - it can’t be false. Anyone can access it.
So, if after that they said it wasn’t theirs, they’d ask the solicitor to deal with it.
Did they sign a consent order as part of a divorce to say that they are happy to walk away with nothing? If so, When did they do that? If that’s the case and it was really recent they might be able to go back and say they want to change it because the circumstances have changed but if this was a while ago, I think it would be hard to challenge. Solicitor would know.
if it wasn’t the financial consent order but something written up between themselves, they should be able to go back and change it. Again, a solicitor would be able to advise, but I don’t think a judge would be looking at what was said or done previously unless it was a legally binding document as part of the divorce.

I think if they still said they aren’t on the deeds and they clearly are, your friends solicitor would probably send them a strongly worded letter asking them to declare it as part of the financial disclosure reminding them of the legalities of making a false statement.

When the question is asked you should be upfront about what you know. These are good faith negotiations and gotchas aren’t necessary. The solicitor just needs to confirm they are aware of the asset and need details of it to ensure the process is followed.