Divorce court and Form E legal advice

[Dom197]

My sister is going through a difficult divorce and its been 3 years since separation. Mediation was attempted but was unsuccessful. They share 3 children under age of 13, the child arrangement was agreed towards middle of last year after lengthy negotiation between solicitors. To agree the finance split for the divorce they both agreed to complete Form E with the potential that this will go to court if they cannot agree. The Form E was completed towards end of last year but there has been a number of discrepancies with the information provided by my sisters ex. Previously to January this year, all correspondence regarding the Form E has been between solicitors, however a couple of months ago he asked to not communicate between solicitors due to cost and speed to get a deal done. It looks like the other reason why he doesn’t wasn’t to communicate between solicitors and proceed with Form E is because he knows the discrepancies and inconsistencies would not look good for him if it ever went to court - he did admit this verbally over the phone to my sister and also explained he has had disagreements with his solicitor because of this. The correspondence without solicitors has progressed to a position where they are close to agreeing a final position, the only thing they are disagreeing on is ownership of a loan of 10k to a family member.
My feeling is that my sister should not back down regarding the 10k loan and that her ex is in the weaker position. If this went to court then my feeling is that she would get a deal better than the current one on the table (obviously I am not an expect and there is bias on my side). However the reason of posting this is to understand more about how the discrepancies in the Form E and the impact this could have on him. He could in theory correct the discrepancies and explain they were an oversight, then take the risk and proceed to court. If he does this then what are the potential and likely consequences? What is he risking if the judge feels he purposefully failed to provide full and frank financial disclosure, if he corrected it later on in the Form E process?

The process requires full disclosure. There is a very basic reason for that. Without all the information no one can make an informed decision. There are both known unknowns and unknown unknowns. These could make a material difference to the decisions made by the parties, advice given to the parties and judgement.

The process also requires expertise. That expertise is often legal advice relevant to the situation.

He isn’t necessarily going to be disadvantaged by not being 100% transparent now as he will be asked to redo the form. Couples can come to there own agreement on what they disclose and how they reach an agreement and as long as that is fair and done with informed advice a judge will sign it off.

There is nothing inherently wrong with coming to an agreement without much legal input or extensive valuations. For some couples it is appropriate. I can’t imagine a need to get pension valuations if we were to split. It would cost a lot and our pension provision is equally sufficient.

In court if he is evasive and not providing information it may count against him. But he would be given a chance to correct errors and oversights. Probably long before a judge looks at it.

Anything can happen in court. The judge could become impatient with your sister questioning answers without a foundation to her challenge. They have limited time for each case and it is not unknown for them to frown upon people bringing up issues that are irrelevant or unproven.

As with most things - it depends. If your sister believes discrepancies are significant - omitting large assets, etc - then she shouldn't back down.
However - the path from ‘almost agreeing’ to Court is long and expensive - solicitors charge a lot, and she’ll need a barrister. It also takes a long time.
And there are no guarantees what judgement she’ll receive.

Given it’s been 3 years already, and she is close to getting a deal she can live with - I’d think she should proceed, so she can move on with her life and be stuck in costly litigation.

He won’t somehow get punished for incomplete disclosure. They’ll need new disclosures if they go to court anyway. He can then provide more transparency, or your sister can question. But it’s all complicated, takes time and costs money.

Thanks for responses but still looking to get an answer on whether the judge will review the whole Form E financial disclosure with evidence of discrepancies and questions my sister has raised, or just the final submission?