Court summons - legal advise needed

[JardinPeony15]

DP is in the throes of formally drawing up a financial order with his ex wife. They have 2 DC aged 10 and 12. He and I met 1 year after their separation. Post separation they have had an informal arrangement whereby DP gives her 50% of his salary every month and a share of bonuses (he is a high earner).

Ex wife is not agreeable to formalising the current arrangements and claims that since DP and I now live together she would like 50% of our joint household income for her and the kids. I received a letter yesterday summoning me to court and have been asked to provide a full financial disclosure.

My question is what are my legal rights with this? Does the court assign CM and SM based on joint household income? Also, do I have to provide a full disclosure of my salary/assets to the court? DP and I contribute jointly to mortgage/bills/food, but otherwise keep our finances separate.

What exactly did you receive? Was it a court order?

Is DP legally represented? Assuming someone's applied for financial orders, he will have had to disclose what he knows about your income and capital. That is usually enough for the judge. I'm also assuming that you split your household bills equally. The court is unlikely to go behind that.

She can't claim a share of your income. However, when it comes to considering what he can afford, what you are able to contribute to household expenses becomes relevant. But as I say above, it would be very unusual for a court to expect you to pay more than half of your joint household bills.

Forgot to say. If it's a court summons you must go to court. You can object to having to produce any documents at all, but if the judge is against you there will be an opportunity in, usually, 14 days for you to produce them.

His exwife sounds greedy as all hell.

Thanks for the reply Collaborate.

DP is currently self-representing (this will likely change)and ex wife, we learned only yesterday, is now legally represented.

DP was quite keen to keep the discussions out of court for obvious reasons, and in their initial talks to formalise their arrangement also disclosed my salary and assets. The discussion broke down quite quickly as ex wife insisted on me also providing a full financial disclosure (bank statements etc) so that she could make a fully informed decision as to what the appropriate CM and SM should be (she already had DPs financials). She argued that because we are now living together DPs household expenditure is halved and thus his personal expenses are lower he can afford to give her more. DP scheduled mediation with the hope of resolution but to no avail. At the time the mediator advised that there is a possibility that a judge could order me to court for a full disclosure if the ex wife makes a case for it. Mediation has broken down and now the first court hearing has been set (months away). The next I received was a letter from the ex wife’s legal representative giving me ‘notice’ that I will be needed in court as the ex wife has written to the judge requesting my attendance and disclosure.

Furthermore, we split our mortgage/bills equally, otherwise keep savings separate.

I think she will fight tooth and nail for this. If summoned to court by the judge, on what grounds could I object the disclosure of personal finances? And if i do object, is the judge likely to view this unfavourably?

Firstly, you haven't been summonsed. Don't go to court unless it's in purely a supportive capacity.

Secondly, if he accepts that he pays half and you pay the other half of the bills, I don't think a judge will need to see your private documents. Surely they would only be relevant if he was denying that you meet half the household bills.

Thirdly, she'll have to convince the judge that there might be a need to see your stuff. She will have to advance argument to that effect at the hearing. Then, if the judge doesn't dismiss her request, you will be ordered to attend on a future date. At the next hearing you'd be able to say why you object.

They do sound as if they may well be taking advantage of you.

Thanks for your advice Collaborate.

I'm not entirely sure why she's even involving me in this. I'm going to do as I have done thus far and stay out of it until summoned to court kicking and screaming.

Your income has no bearing on CM. It has a bearing on SM, but only to a limited degree. If he was claiming that you couldn't afford to meet half of the bills, and he had to pay them all, the amount of your income would be relevant. However judges tend not to order 3rd parties to disclose their payslips and bank statements just to satisfy the idle curiosity of an angry spouse.

If you can meet DP's housing needs with the capital at your disposal, that might have a bearing on the capital split (needs is one of the factors) but I'm at the solicitor's letter. They are not supposed to take advantage of a litigant in person. I wouldn't expect them to try that on in a letter to another solicitor. Perhaps your partner might like to take a copy to court with him to show the judge.

I think you hit the nail on the head with your comment regarding the idle curiosity of an angry spouse.

There is no need for housing needs or the division of capital. The former marital home was sold off and capital divided just after their separation (well before my time). They did this without the involvement of lawyers, and everyone was happy. DP and I have since bought a home jointly and all mortgage and bills are covered jointly; there is no need for DP to support me. Ex wife has re-housed as well. This is exclusively a matter of formalising the arrangement around CM and SM that DP has been paying thus far. I fear what was meant to be a relatively straightforward task, will turn into a bit of a nightmare.

Have you taken legal advice? You own a house with a married man (I don't think you've said that he's divorced?). Are you joint tenants or tenants in common?

Make sure your position is protected.

We have an appointment with a legal advisor on Monday.

DP separated from the ex wife 7 years ago, divorced 2 years later. It's been a very amicable split (until now), so they never got around to formalising any financial agreement in writing. We are engaged and marrying this summer hence his wish to put to paper now. We own the house as joint tenants.

Ah ok that's fine then. I thought from your references to their "separation" that he was still married.

My bad prepperpig.

It's because DP and the ex wife organised their financials immediately after their separation not the divorce.

take the letter to solicitor I would STRONGLY and i really do mean STRONGLY encourge your partner to get legal repersentation asap otherwise things are going to get very very stressful for you both as she is likely to claim legal expenses etc from your partner.

Do not agree to disclose anything until ordered by a judge as they have no right or need to know your income / assests.

And follow collaborate advice they are on the ball with these thnigs.

Oh and keep the letter to show the judge just how unreasonable your partners EX is being as the judge will take it into account when doing their ruling.

I hope you get everything formilised soon for both your sakes and wish you all the best for your upcoming marraige

This thread proves how important paying even for just one hour of advice from a solicitor is worth it.

If this is England not Scotland it doesn't matter how they divided things amicably at separation. She can still claim a share of his assets now in a final court order or consent order - now not at date of separation even if they signed something at the time unless it was sealed by the court. So they both had a share then but now she might be entitled to his share of your current house too.

Do you have a written agreement with this married man about the property you own together and what are your shares each 50/50? is it joint tenants or tenants in common?

Lotus I initially thought the same but the OP has now clarified that her DP and his ex are actually divorced already.

I wonder if lotus has a point. They are divorced but they haven't tied up the financial loose ends so the house might be on the table. If the ex won the lottery, he could go after it. The ex might use it as a bargaining chip.

I'm assuming that the ex will obtain some of his pension and just not his current income.

Exactly. Something like 90% of people in England seem to think if you have your decree absolute the money side is settled which is 100% wrong unless you have a court order or a consent order sealed by the court. If you don't have that like that recent eco millionaire's case the other half can go back even 20 years later and make claims and that is why a clean break court sealed financial settlement (the hard bit to achieve - decree absolute is dead easy) is vital.

That is why many say do not get your decree absolute until you have that court approved clean break sealed consent order on finances.