Finances

[Twinkle100]

Hello all, would like to ask if someone had the similar experience/advice- I am about to start financial part of divorce and the issue is my ex doesn’t want to cooperate at all. In short he thinks (and was told similar by solicitors ) that he payed everything/earned everything and I am not entitled to anything after 18yrs of marriage…. He was earning significantly more than me and I am based in England.
My question : is mediation possible if he doesn’t want to cooperate?
Shall I go directly to the court?
Has anyone been using open access barrister and can you maybe recommend someone?
Thank you

It seems unlikely advice to get from a solicitor unless there are no actual assets. By that I mean no house equity, no investments or savings and no pensions. Do any of these exist? If so who owns them ?

Au contraire. I am the breadwinner and own 95% of the matrimonial assets and my idiot ex owns 5% ( all in pension) and I will need to give him at least 50% of the lot because I earn 4X his income and he has chosen to spend all his money and not have any savings. 11 year marriage, 2 kids all my contributions.My FDR hearing is in 2 weeks time and this is after my 2 hour conference with my barrister. You will need to go direct to court.

Thank You both. You are right LemonTT, it is probably unlikely advise but I never know with him was it solicitor or his very good accountant...
Jabbathehurt I hope all will go well . Do you mind asking me what is the price range for barrister and did you use open access maybe? How to choose someone from so many of them? I am based in London.
So the thing is he was constantly investing abroad which I never agreed with but thought he is in that business and probably knows better than me - of course not thinking we might divorce..( I won't go into my psychology of not divorcing long time ago 🙄) We do have property which has a mortgage- so probably won't get much out of it ...
I would like to have a fare share whatever it is as don't want to allow to be walked over again as I used to do by him.
My idea is to try to fill the form by myself as much as I can and than seek legal advice. I did start the process 2 -3 yrs ago but in the mean time we tried again but didn't work obviously, and I got through 2 stages and now before the final one I want to do finances. I moved out recently..

@Twinkle100 You will need to appoint a solicitor/ lawyer to start the process rolling. A barrister is only needed if you are going to court - if he should choose the court route as there are other avenues available like mediation. You say you are based in England. Where is he based? If you were married in England, then your marriage is under the jurisdiction of English law and he will definitely have to pay up a substantial portion depending on length of marriage, whether there are kids involved etc. If he has a lot of foreign investments you would need quite an experienced lawyer with access to forensic accountants etc, especially if the risk is high that he might start hiding his assets. I speak from the other side of things ( I hid nothing from him) but he has been so greedy as to ask me to do a land registry search on myself ( because I must be a slum lord with multiple properties) and asked if I had foreign assets and other offshore accounts. 🙄
You need get a solicitor to place a hold on your matrimonial home ( as seems you have moved out) - otherwise he might “gift it” or place it under joint ownership with his family etc, and it would be difficult to have it as part of the matrimonial assets. Good luck but start the ball rolling ASAP and as secretly as possible.

@Jabbathehurt Thank you very much. I am really sorry for your situation and hope it works out well. I know, some people are just greedy…
He is also based here, but issue I have he doesn’t want anything to do or cooperate or to see or speak to me. Can be aggressive sometimes and I don’t want any contact , thats I thought to go directly to court to cut the expenses even though it might be more in the beginning. I found a guidance on this website £25 for how to fill financial form so might pay and study it. We don’t have kids, had multiple failed IVFs, I am working and have income and some saving so trying to use it wisely.. And yes he is sending a lots of money abroad to his family to do projects on his behalf-..