Form E - help with completion please?

[IamMaz]

My husband of 34 years is divorcing me. Not what I want but nothing I can do.
Is anyone here familiar with the completion of Form E and the implications? I haven’t looked at the ‘asset’ bit yet – can’t face it. I’m trying to complete Part 3 – Financial Requirements. I have a solicitor but the bill is already in thousands for relatively very little work – just 3 letters sent I think!!! I’m hoping that someone out there will have experience of this form.
I have to state what my future expenditure will be. Do I have to provide 'evidence' of stuff? I pay cash for hairdressing etc so will be unable to 'prove' it. It’s all so difficult and there's pages of it... I am sitting here in tears. If I don’t fill it in to cover EVERYTHING how detrimental will this be? All I can see happening is him disputing my future expenditure costs will be and me disputing his – and we both will end up paying solicitors even more….
I'm just hoping someone has a bit of experience for me. Help.

Sending hugs and strength. It's an awful part of the divorce process, aside from the emotional part. Evidence not always necessary, especially with forms like E, unless it gets completely blown up and ends up in a big court battle. Just write down to the best of your knowledge as honest as possible. Don't undersell yourself with low budgets - be realistic/generous. You deserve a fair settlement split.

I'd recommend, to keep costs down, having a look on Facebook if you're on there for support groups like the one in my attached pic.

A lot of things can be done Litigant in Person. Try not to fall further down the solicitor rabbit hole - they are money grabbing (most of them, anyway!). Easier said than done when scared and clueless.

Wishing you all the best. You will come out the other side and see how strong you were, and how much of a lucky escape you had. X

@CustardCream31
Thank you for your reply. I'm on Facebook but not very familiar with it so I'll have an investigate!
What does Litigant in Person mean?

No worries, I empathise.
Facebook groups with people who have been through it all, and also lurking solicitors/qualified persons, are worth their weight in gold - even for reassurance.
LIP is doing it all without solicitor. Representing yourself for forms/court.
Of course get advice where absolutely necessary to ensure you're not getting screwed over! But spend some time trawling those Facebook groups and search specific things, and it should give you some good insight.
All the best.

Hi, take a few deep breahs. That form E had me in tears and my anxiety was horrendous whilst trying to get all the info.
There’s a YouTube video that shows you how to fill it out. I watched that and then sat and did the Form bit by bit.
Some of it isn’t relative (if you don’t have a
business together or other properties etc)

You’ll need 12 months Bank statements from each bank account/savings account/ISA you have plus you’ll need your CETV of any pensions you have. These can take a few months to get depending on your employer. You’ll need copies of any car loans, credit cards etc.. any debts as these get deducted.
Living costs are guesstimated but I think the YouTube video gave good examples.
Break it down.
Do a section at a time.

i got my solicitor to check it and she tweaked bits for me.

It cost me a few £100 I think.

If you’ve got equity in the house then get 3 valuations and take the average.
Don't worry about it being perfect. No one’s is but it’s about making sure you get a fair deal.

Watching with interest. I can see why this anxiety provoking and I'm going to set about looking at this even though it is months ahead. I'm going to attempt to complete it and then get a solicitor to review it. It looks an ordeal to complete. I think it is a case of breaking it down into manageable bits and not attempting the whole thing or even half the form in one go. I'll probably tackle easy bits first to get them out of the way and then go about collecting the paperwork though I see this can take some time to collect.

What have been other peoples experiences of completing this form. Any tips?
How soon can you start completing the form - do you have to wait for confirmation of the initial stage going through (I think the financial part comes later in the process?) so that you have the most up to date information?

What is the CETV in relation to pensions?

Your CETV is your Cash equivalent transfer value. Basically how much your pension is worth at the moment.
You need to ask your pension provider for it. Mine didn’t take long to come back but EXH works in the Public Sector so his took a few months.

If there’s a disparity in pensions then this will be taken into account and you can offset with other marital assets like equity, savings etc.. or have a Pension Sharing Order.

Basically you need to add all your joint assents and divide by 2. This is the basic starting point for your Financial Order.
I decided to instruct a solicitor as my EX is a controlling bully who lied and gas lit me for months leading up to the split.

Frazzled At what point did you employ a solicitor - did they complete the form for you? What are the costs involved as I definitely need a solicitor to review things.

Look at the guides on Wikivorce and AdviceNow. I was on a tight budget after separation so tracked my spending in an app which was brilliant as I could look back at a whole year's spending. Some bank apps also put spending into categories which could help. Moneysavingexpert has info on house budgets that can be useful for making sure you dont miss one off expenses like insurance. Unless your spending is high or you are asking for maintenance above the normal CM amount then future spending often isnt that relevant. It can be relevant to mortgage capacity eg if you have spare income you could afford to borrow. If you have modest income and are spending most of it and not seeking spousal maintenance or additional CM above CMS amount then the court is not going to be interested in how often you have your hair cut. You can share Form E for mediation but mark it 'without prejudice' so you can amend it if get legal advice later - your ex cannot include any 'without prejudice' docs in any court bundle. It takes ages so just do it in chunks. I didnt feel I needed legal advice for Form E, a lawyer can only really give a view on a case after Form E is exchanged when they see all the assets. It shouldnt cost that much to get someone to review it though. You get opportunities to update your Form E if you dont settle early so all is not lost if you miss something out, but in most cases income and outgoings wont make a difference to splitting capital, pensions etc if you are not arguing over millions. Your pension company will have info on CETV and how to apply on their website. I got a Which DIY divorce book which good at explaining the terminology and process.

Hi, I had to get a solicitor from the word go as my Ex was and is particularly nasty. I discovered he had hidden money (£60k) from me, had been laundering money into his GF account (I was unaware he was having an affair) and spent time gaslighting me and trying to ring fence his pension so I wouldn’t get a fair %ge of the pot. He wanted us to do things ‘amicably’ without a solicitor but I realised after a few weeks that this wouldn’t be possible.

i completed the Form E myself. Google it and print 2
copies off. I watched the YouTube video on how to complete it and did a trial one then transferred it to my proper copy. My solicitor just checked it over. I think it cost me a few £100 as she then sent it to my EXS solicitor and we exchanged bank statements which is when things really kicked off for me as the full cost and extent of the affair came to light.

It's really shit filing it in. My advice is be realistic with future spending. Go through and list out what you'd spend on everything and list it down. Don't downplay it. In my honest opinion, I'm not sure how much notice is taken of it. The focus is usually on splitting assets. My own experience is that my haircuts didn't really come into the equation. You could make a CAB appointment as they can help.

You don't have to prove amounts but don't scrimp (it is unlikely the other side will).
So if you get a cheap hair cut, I'd put down instead what a mainstream high street salon would charge.
For example I put something like £200/300 for "entertainment " my ex put £800 a month.

There are some good online resources provided by some solicitors - it's worth a few google searches.

I didn't list anything like that, maybe I was wrong not to. Just rent, travel and food utilities no proof was required as I kept the reasonable £5k car £15k a year rent etc

I don’t know what fortune you’re going to be fighting over. However, unless you want your solicitors bills to go sky high you’ve really got to lean into this. You don’t have to do it in one day. Indeed, doing a form E is a multi month process. But do you start picking it off bit by bit. Just get very organised and make a very long list of all the things you need to start gathering. You’ll need your Post-it notes as reminders. You don’t need to evidence everything but I would say the risk if you don’t look into it properly is that if anything you underestimate your spend

Big hug. Even if you have a solicitor you have to do it yourself. You know yourself better. The solicitor will put in what you give them. Please watch this video - it explains every section with examples.
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Hope it helps.

@JKM66
Thank you so much for that clip. I've just watched it.

I'm now worried that I've been told that the conditional order will be pronounced at a hearing on 22nd January and I haven't done Form E yet. Is that an issue?
All this is so confusing to me.

The Financial Order should be done before your Final Order. After the Conditional Order is passed you have up to a year to get your finances agreed with you ex before a judge will ask whats holding it up so don't panic.

Like Magnum75 said. Don't panic. I sent a note to the divorce people that i will be delaying the final order as we need to sort the finances. The MF tried to finalise it as he though i would not be able to claim on his pension, but the judge turned it down because of that note. It's been nearly 2 yrs and we still haven't finalised the finances. He is dragging his feet and making this a horrendous and costly process, as expected.
Keep posting here as the experience in this forum is priceless. Good luck.

Hi all,
Can anyone advise how to edit the government form-e for financial remedy please? I want to make boxes bigger to add more text and also add pages but cant seem to do it. Any advice would be very much appreciated thank you :)