Any advice on financial split?

[TheApplicant]

Good Afternoon,

Me (52 years old) and my husband (51 years old) of 28 years are currently undergoing divorce proceedings and dividing finances with the assitance of the courts. I have a solicitor, however they are not the best with regards to communication. I believe this may be due to my funding coming by way of legal aid, so I assume that they may be getting a lower hourly rate compared to what a private client would pay.

Financial circulstances are as follows:

There are 2 children of the marriage, one aged 13 and the other aged 24. At the last FDR the judge stated that our 24 year old son would be classified as a child due to him being severely autistic (non-verbal, wears an incontinence pad and requires 24/7 care) Both of our children stay with me 7 days a week and father has no contact whatsoever aside from paying child maintenance for the 13 year old.

Due to my autistic sons' condition, I am not in work and reliant on state benefits (PIP for myself due to my anxiety&depression, carers allowance for my son, UC and child maintenance) my husband is a Police Officer (Earning approximately £2,500 monthly after child maintenance deductions) with 25 years service and his pension has been valued at £150,000 (CETV) I have no pension whatsoever.

The Family Home which is on my husbands sole name and was purchased 20 years ago has been valued at £330,000 and is mortgage free.

My husband owns a second property in his sole name which was purchased 24 years ago which has been valued at £300,000, also mortgage free. This property is currently on rent for which he receives £800 per calendar month.

My husband purchased a third property (also in his sole name) after separating from me for £303,000 for which he states there is a £95,000 balance outstanding on the mortgage. He is now cohabiting with his new parter at this property.

In total there is approximately £1,000,000 in assets belonging to my husband. I have approximately £700 to my name.

My husband has also taken advantage of court proceedings and violated numerous court orders with penal noticea attached. He has only started to comply with the orders since the judge ordered that a copy of all previous and future orders be sent directly to the Chief Constable of the force that he is employed with.

I am looking for any advice on potential splits that could be attainable in light of the above information. Thanks in advance.

So he had £208,000 savings at the point of separation - that's relevant.

Are you in England or one of the other home countries?

Where did your husband get all the money for these houses on that income ?

Aside from the fact I don’t know how you accrued these assets on a police wage you should be looking at

min 50% equity of all houses, plus 50% of pension

you have a case for higher share due to long marriage, needs of your adult child who is unable to live independently, and your inability to earn.

what did the judge at the fdr indicate as a settlement ?

Domestic violence. The case did not reach court as I did not provide an MG11 - due to me being on 250mg of sertraline upon his removal from the home by police. I could not (and probably still cant) handle the stress of court. The only reason I am putting myself through family court is to secure a roof over my head.

No. He has approximately £80,000 in savings upon separation in 2020. He purchased the third property in 2022 and also has worked a cash in hand jobs such as Class 1 lorry driver & coach driver, I assume he still does.

He would pocket my disability benefits along with our sons disability benefits. He was also working cash in hand driving coaches and lorries. At one point his net monthly income was £2100 and our remortgage payments were £1900.

As stated, he was using my disability benefits along with my sons for many years to pay off mortgages. He was also working cash in hand driving lorries and coaches on his days off. The judge did not/could not make an indication due to my husbands non compliance with regards to financial disclosure. He filed his Form E 14 months after the initial request. The next FDR is in July.

You will definitely get 50% of assets - houses and pension.

It is good news he has been buying properties. You should be able to stay in yours and he should put it in your name.

He should give you 50% of the pension, or something to compensate.

Your should get both child maintenance and some form of spousal maintenance - I would say lifetime spousal given your son's condition and the fact it prevents you from working

You say you've had an FDR - normally this is an endgame for 96% of divorces and everything is finalised there. Did your ex push back on that and refuse to cooperate? What did the judge say at that point? They would normally give 'directions' along the lines of 'if this case comes to court I would expect this X, Y and Z to happen with assets'

Crikey! He's a naughty boy
But try to focus mainly on the bonus fact it means there's a house to sign over to you, and an additional house that can be sold to (a) pay off his mortgage, then (b) provide you with a lump sum payment

In time he will get in trouble with this non-compliance

It was his first appearance in court proceedings since they commenced. He did not appear at the previous directions hearing/ FDR (he sent an offer of the FMH being transferred over to me just before the first FDR and my solicitors confirmed that we cannot consider an offer without full disclosure, which he promised but then we faced radio silence once again)

During the last FDR he alleged that I had threatened to petrol bomb his fathers home and that’s why he did not attend previous hearings. The judge dismissed this immediately and advised him to report the matter to the police (as he should already be aware)

He has since submitted his Form E (with many inaccuracies such as stating he lives alone, even though the process server stated that neighbours confirmed he is cohabiting with a new partner. He also stated he does not receive payslips on his Form E and also stated he is in £300,000 debt to various family members/friends)

We then exchanged questionnaires and subsequently I submitted my replies to his questionnaire. He has missed his deadline for submitting his replies this week and has requested an extension on compassionate grounds due to his new partner having an alleged ‘miscarriage’ - I am however glad that he has contradicted himself as he has now admitted he has a new partner.

He also failed to provide bank statements for 4 to 5 bank accounts that I have knowledge of, which we challenged in my questionnaire.

Due to all this the judge was not able to provide directions/indication at the last FDR as there was 0 disclosure at that point. The next hearing is 22nd July so there is plenty of time for him to provide even with his excuse of the miscarriage.

His girlfriend and cohabitation is not your issue. There’s enough assets for you to be housed and catered for and both of you should walk away with a decent amount.

you’ll probably get 60% or so but if you want more capital you’ll trade pension and vice versa

I think you'd benefit from taking to a forensic accountant.

Any idea how much that would cost? As I’m not in the best financial position at the current moment.

Whilst I can appreciate his cohabitation is not my concern with regards to financial disclosure, I am glad he has contradicted himself as he initially stated he was single and not cohabiting. I assume it would cause doubt in the mind of the judge, although I am happy to stand corrected if this will not have any significant impact on the outcome of the case.

Yes I believe somewhere in the region of 60-65% my way is a fair decision. So approx 650k of the assets in which case I could have the FMH as well as the rental property transferred onto my name, so this would help to provide an income for me in the future. He would keep his current home and his pension. This would secure both of our housing needs in addition to future income needs.

I am more than happy to relinquish my rights to his pension as due to my state of health and medication I am taking, I am not hopeful I will live to see any of the pension.

They change by the hour. Prices vary hugely. In London your looking at several hundred £ per hour. Some will offer a free initial consultation. It's worth doing if he's lying about assets and conceling financial information.

Do I need permission/an order from the courts in order to instruct a forensic accountant?

Will it be the same judge every time? If the judge is saying things need to be sent to the Chief Constable it sounds like that judge… erm…. does not feel 100% positive about his intentions.

Yes the judge has reserved the case to herself. She has also ordered that any issues of future non-compliance be directed towards herself. She was not at all pleased with him at the last FDR and ordered him to pay the outstanding costs of £1500 to which he replied that he cannot afford it as he is paying child maintenance. She then said “so? It is your child and it is your duty to pay”
He very quickly piped down after that

I would sit tight and wait it sounds like this judge has got the measure of the situation. They see this type of bad behaviour day in day out (unfortunately)..the individuals concerned think they are being so clever but the judge will have seen it all before..
I would have thought his behaviour and actions around disclosure will make it even more likely the judge will determine a clean break and give you larger proportion of assets.
Perhaps have an initially session (often free) with a financial advisor before the FDR?
Does legal aid provide you with a barrister for the FDR?

Yes- legal aid does provide a barrister. I have attended all hearings thus far being represented by the same barrister, so she is familiar with the case. My husband is bouncing between solicitors and self represented at the single hearing he attended. I am confident that the judge will see through his deception, my only concern is the soft loans he has taken from family. Now that I have questioned these loans within my questionnaire he all of a sudden needs an extension, odd isn't it?

I don’t think his cohabitation will materially change things and that shouldn’t be your focus

your focus is the need to house yourself dnd children
your inability to worK
the inability of your adult child to be independent
there care enough assets to house you both and provide an income for you

Thanks for the advice, it’s greatly appreciated. I just hope the judge doesn’t consider his fallacies about taking loans from family to sustain standard of living during the marriage as genuine. I’m 100% confident that we enjoyed a debt free marriage (aside from the mortgages taken to finance properties)

If you don't believe / feel you will be around long enough to receive any of his pension, and maintenance for your youngest will probably cease when he is 18 ? or completes university ( you can request maintenance to continue until the youngest has left full time further and / or higher education - it takes a good solicitor to get that ), you need to request lifetime maintenance for your eldest son.