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

This is right - and how petty to go after a pension

You need to go for a clean break

he CAN go after your properties - they count as joint assets

You will have to declare everything. This is the law and not doing so could fet you in trouble.

However, you can agree to what you are willing to take into consideration in the negotiations.

Frankly, with a shirt marriage, why not try to use mediation and sort it between. Much quicker and cheaper. You can then get a cibsent order and the judge grants the finance order there and then. All online.

Not how UK law operates. Upon marriage everything goes into the joint pot

Don’t even think about trying to hide these if he knows about them

@vivainsomnia I don’t have to declare my properties. He has no proof I have them. If he does go after them onus is on him to find proof - good luck to him doing that from the UK. I highly doubt the UK courts are going to do his dirty work for him if he does go down that route. I’m happy with clean break to be fair given everyone’s responses thank you for replying

Again, this is a badly informed comment:

www.lawgazette.co.uk/practice-points/what-makes-a-short-marriage/5118547.article

There would have to be some agreement

I hope you have a decent solicitor- my divorce (incl trial) cost me c£80k - but I couldn’t have navigated the complications created by my ex without a solicitor

@curious79 wow so much money. Was it a long marriage with much to divide. We have nothing joint so nothing to split. No property together, no joint accounts, no savings together no children

It was a 2.5 yr marriage, one child.

there wasn’t much to divide at all so his lack of engagement made it awful and was very wasteful- but he wanted to control any which way

@curious79 my goodness. Was this cost purely due to lack of engagement? Did you get a good outcome?

If you want a share of his pension, he is entitled to a share of your properties as well surely? You said good luck with him finding anything about them, so you aren’t going to declare them? So that is no different to the men we hear about here hiding assets.

@DurinsBane if he wants them he can find proof. And with him being in the UK that’ll prove difficult same way it works for me if I went after his business which I DO NOT want as it was his before he met me and never mingled into the short stint marriage. If no pension split I’m totally happy walking away with CLEAN BREAK that’ll do me just fine

All pre marital assets can be bought into the equation, it’s not correct to say if they were not intermingled they are excluded! If you start claiming against him he is likely to do the same.

in regards of pension you are talking about 18 months of contributions which is what ? 20k? 10k more? Less? It won’t be large at all. And you’re likely to be award nil or small amount if anything, and it would be a pension sharing order ! As India, ridiculous.

so you are prepared to rack up costs to try get a share of that ? Utterly pointless.

on your financial declaration you have to state you have declared everything/ knowingly excluding them is fraud !

you would be best to get a solicitor to draft a clean break order detailing no claims from either side due to short marriage with no dependants and file for that

you do have to declare!
if you don’t and it goes to court your ex will tear you to shreds over non declaration!

honestly you sound ill informed and think you are entitled to his pension but he’s not entitled to your assets. English divorce law is not like that at all

Ex lied on form E and wasn’t penalised but he didn’t have lots extra properties. It is contempt of court. The likely outcome is you each get zero as such short period.

my FDA was online and only had attend fdr and final hearing.

Another option would be to make a formal without prejudice offer to encourage him to engage eg say the expectation is you both walk away with what you brought to marriage / own pensions / keep own assets etc but to avoid delay and court costs you are willing offer £x lump sum if he agrees a consent order within 28 days. This would also avoid you having to lie in a form E. You wouldn’t have to pay much to get a lawyer to draft an offer letter.

If it’s W-P the judges will not know about this offer but there is a cost risk to him if he doesn’t beat the offer later and has run up costs (although this isn’t always enforced)

It would probably cost you more to claim on pension than you would get back it also depends if the pension has gone up in value as some are invested in stock market and may have gone down post Trump tariffs. Some pensions eg public sector you buy a set amount annually. you could spend more on legal and expert costs than was invested during 18 months

I think I would bribe him to walk away as even one hearing with legal advice is going to be several £1000

I do understand why he initiated the divorce quickly, as obviously he wanted to get divorced in the UK. You don’t seem to understand how different UK law works compared to the US.
If there is any chance your assets are likely to increase (eg inheritance) then it is very worth your while to try to get the financial order asap.
And if you have lots of properties that you don’t want to share then I have no idea why you are going after his pension.

My ex spouse lied about a lot on form e and judge didn’t bat an eye lid - no consequences for him nor was he penalised. I had no proof of his assets which were very carefully hidden in family/friends names and the courts do nothing, you are right in the onus is on you and your solicitors to find proof if you have the funds to go down that route along with the stress that comes with it. The courts/judge will not be doing any digging themselves they only go by the evidence presented to them on the day. This is UK though don’t know where you’d go for your claim is in the US or UK.

@milkshakemonday

Realistically - you may only try to have a claim on his pension, accumulated while you are married - which is 18 months. Pension prior to marriage is unlikely to be included.
And even if you tried - with such short marriage, and presumable you both are able bodied and work - there is no chance you will actually get a pension sharing order.

The amount of work required to file a case, and get it through to a hearing is huge. You may be able to hide your properties - but you'll need to submit 12 months worth or financial disclosures - all your banking statements, for e.g.
And after that - you'll be exchanging questionaries on your disclosures where further disclosures would be required.

Preparing bundles for hearings take days, so is writing position statements, etc. Solicitors can do it - but it costs a lot.

I highly doubt that a share of pension payments accrued over 18 months can be worth the amount of work you'll need to do to try to get it. And, as I said - there is only a very tiny chance of success anyway....

Be smart. Get a clean break order and move on with your life. Court fees alone could leave you out of pocket, plus you are clearly intending to lie on your Form E. Battling over such a measly amount will likely just give him fire in his belly to fight you no matter the costs, even hiring a forensic accountant to track down your “unfindable” properties.
If there’s ever a time in life to pick your battles, this is it.

Most hearings are not in open court and instead the judge either looks at the 2 sets of paperwork or if still no agreement/complicated both solicitors attend. You shouldn’t not to be there

Solidarity to all the other women whose ex/husbands are all totally ignoring the process (nearly 2 years and counting, long marriage house only asset).

OP, if there is any form of abuse you are not required to attend mediation (mine actually declined to engage with this due to circumstances, although I would have given it a go just to get the bloody thing finished). I think you DO need the MIAM form with a box ticked explaining this.

You've been given a lot of good advice about the pension and lying on Form E; I'm not going to reiterate it.

I do think you need to seek professional advice, if only because your geographical situation is less straightforward.

Good luck to all.