Court Hearing

[scootergirl111]

Hi, To cut a long story short my ex divorced me a few years ago without a financial order.
He is now taking me to court to force me to sell the house, I am not bothered by this and am happy to sell but the share of equity is in dispute.
The hearing is in a few weeks and I have to return the Acknowledgment of Service to the court.
There are a few options on there one that says I intend to contest the claim and another that says I intend to rely on written evidence, would it be wrong to rely on simply sending in the evidence?
If i attend the hearing should I send in my evidence with the Acknowledgement anyway?
Has anyone been through this before? What can i expect at court? I am doing this myself as I can not afford a Solicitor.

If you don't attend the hearing and you have not employed an advisor to represent you in your absence you will likely get a poor outcome. My ex-wife, after what she considered to be a poor performance by her solicitor, decided to go it alone. She attended court and was hammered at the first hearing.

If you are unable to pay for Legal Costs (a fact that you must be able to demonstrate) you can ask your partner to contribute if you can show he has the means. Might sound silly to pay an ex's court costs, but logic is that if it helps to solve things quickly the overall legal cost will be less than if it drags on and on.

After my ex-wife's initial drubbing she decided to employ both a Barrister and Solicitor. Three Emergency MPS (Maintenance Pending Suites) applications were made to the courts. All resulted in cost orders against her as she could not demonstrate she was unable to pay. Reality was that she was employed, had a debt free house of her own and was being maintained by myself anyway.

Many Solicitors will give you 30 minutes for free. Good luck

I'm not sure what kind of application he's issued if you have to file an acknowledgment of service form. Did he not apply for a financial remedy order? Or did he apply for an order under theTrust of Land Act? If the latter the court cannot adjust pre-existing interests.

Has he remarried? Have you?

Thank you so much for all your messages and advice. The big day is tomorrow so I will let you know. Thanks again x