Going to Court

[milkshakemonday]

Hello MN users.

Please can anyone who has had to go down the court route as no other way to get financial order as the other person is non engaging intentionally advise me if the following is correct process? Feel free to correct me with any advice you which will be gratefully appreciated.

1. Attempt mediation or get MIAM (can it be done online?)

2. Apply to court & pay £300 court fee (which forms???)

3. Pay solicitors/barrister fees

4. Adhere to court timeline/schedule (anything more to know here?)

5. Submit form E with evidence

6. Prepare bundle (is this for applicant?)

7. Attend FDA, FDR & final hearing

8. Where do I stand if the other party refuses to engage? Refuses disclosure?

NB - I am in the US and other party (refuse to call him my husband) is in the UK. Is this possible to do all online or do I need to catch flights to UK for court hearings etc?

I want clean break and share of his pension as no other assets to divide.

The only reason I have the above knowledge is because my best friend lives in the UK and has given me the advice but unsure how accurate it is!

Divorce issued and finalized by UK court as other party applied then finalized it without financial order

Thought you needed to sort financials before divorce was completed.

He applied (I agreed to it) then he finalized it without checking with me first so what was I supposed to do?! I would have loved nothing more to sort financials before divorce was completed @Myfridgeiscool

Your process is basically correct t for the uk. Not sure how you being in the US would impact - if at all. Mediation can definitely be done online and imagine court can in your circumstances too.

You don't need to pay a solicitor. Check out legal queen on YouTube as a starting point.

Miam first.
Form A
Form E.

Take it from there.

Hopefully he'll engage once the ball gets rolling.

Good luck.

Just to add, you may need a solicitor at points before I get jumped on, but not to make a start on the above. I've wasted thousands... you can get ad hoc advice as you go. Forms can be filled in by you. The form E is daunting because it's long but isn't that bad as much of it is non applicable for most people.

Don't leave it until the last minute!

@researchers3 so to confirm it can be sorted with me not living in the UK? Would I have declare my properties abroad that were nothing to do with him and acquired before we ever met and married? They were on rent and looked after by my family in the US but in my name

How much does MIAM form A & form E cost?

I wouldn’t bank on him not being entitled to a share of those properties. How long were you married and do you have kids together?

Miam is a few hundred ish. You have a session each separately and then one together. If you cant agree on asset split they sign if off, it forms part of your form A.

If you look on the uk government website all the prices are on there.

I've no idea how you being in the uk would impact your case im afraid, you could try rights of women or CAB for free advice on that?

I believe property acquired before your relationship is not included as a marital asset but couldn't say for sure. I believe you'd still need to list it on the form- i assume your ex is aware of the property?

Get the ball rolling with the MIAM and have a look at the forms.

Everything takes months im afraid, or that has been my experience.

@teenmaw married just shy of 18 months and thank god no children

@researchers3 thank you kindly for replying.
yes he knows I have properties on rent. I believe he has a shop on lease in his name but no proof. Short marriage and no children. I was glad to get out early tbh and back home where my heart really is with my family as great support network

We didn’t do a MIAM and weren’t questioned about it. If you’re the applicant you have to basically push everything through and yes, attending court will be necessary.

There will be three hearings - first two, I’d say you don’t need representation as the aim is for you to come to an agreement. If you don’t get to an agreement you then go to the final hearing where the courts decide the outcome for you both. I strongly advise to have representation for this.

I used a solicitor to check my docs (eg form E) and to put together the bundles for court for the first two hearings but I wanted to keep costs down so they didn’t attend. If you’re the applicant you’ll be responsible for putting together the bundles.

@GreenLeaf25 really? So can go straight for the forms A & E and no mediation?

So physical/in person court attendance will be required?

How much is it likely to cost?

Why on earth do you think you should have any rights to his pension after being married 18 months and no children?

at best you’ll be due a share of pension accrued during the length of your marriage. And he can counter claim against all your properties acquired pre marriage which he will do if you persist.

you are going to make this Much more costly by perusing in when the most likely outcome is you won’t be awarded any share of his pension .

you’d be best advised to get a clean break order with no claims on either side so you leave with what you both had individually at the start of marriage

ridiculous

@millymollymoomoo is court attendance in person if you are family with family court proceedings?

This is spot on and your best advice

In your op you say no other assets to divide - but you need to include in your form e all your assets /houses/ rental property etc so there is potentially other assets to divide. It’s not a one way division! He has a claim on all
of those as they are considered marital assets. So I’d say think carefully if you want to pursue a share of 18 months pension accrual - which in itself will be pittance

@millymollymoomoo he can claim my pension too if he likes as whatever was accrued during marriage I feel should be shared. I don’t want anything else he has as it was his before marriage and nice versa. I was simply asking of the court process in UK that’s all.

@millymollymoomoo either one of us could not disclose our properties potentially as neither of us have each others details about he property so how would he pursue mine from the UK if I live in US vice versa ?!

Did you live together before you were married?

If you didn’t live together before marriage then this is a “short marriage”, and your assets are not “pooled”. I think it’s anything under 5years total marriage+ cohabitation

@HowsaboutChocolateno we did not

@MollyButton exactly that so unsure why moo moo @millymollymoomoo is suggesting otherwise!

Your timeline is right

You will need to be present unless hearings are online - some are. Perhaps you should request this if your ex is likely to be no show in parts? He may do this to cause you cost/ inconvenience. Initially courts are lenient towards this behaviour so you’ll have to suck it up. It may however come out in the wash in terms of ultimately courts viewing you more favourably and giving you more (I was awarded 80% of our mutual assets as the judge clearly made my ex pay for the trial)

both applicant and respondent need to prepare a bundle - every time. Do as much yourself as you can - it’s not difficult if you’re focused and literate

if you have a non-engager they will probably not come to agreement even at the FDR, so you have in fact missed a final possible step - full trial / 2-3 day hearing

Three bits of advice:

1. treat this as a business matter, a tedious project, that is bureaucratic to get over the line but will eventually happen. Eat well, no alcohol, exercise - you need to train like an athlete to keep mentally together
2. start gathering docs for your form E - it’s a monster and takes forever
3. anything you say or do or text or email could go in front of a judge. Be nothing other than diplomatic, kind, and attempting to move things forward. This could take many many months (18mths/2yrs) so it’s a long time to hold that line for someone who’s clearly going to make your life a misery

i speak 100% from experience and wish you well

This is all part of sorting financials

@curious79 wow very informative thank you so much. If I don’t get pension I’d be happy to walk away with most clean break but cannot do this by consent due to no communication with the ex plus I ended all contact due to abuse and do not wish to go down the route of contacting him again to protect my own mental health. Can UK courts just give clean break without it going to court if I say want nothing from him and him me ? (I assume he wouldn’t as he would have claimed at the time he finalized divorce presumably?)