divorce final fdr hearing

[janeyb123]

I am due to attend my FDR hearing 10/08/17 and I yesterday received the bundle from my stbxx solicitor.

In my stbx statement he has told so many blatant lies to discredit me and use me as the fact he is in debt and has subsequently took out an IVR arrangement and is in 24k of debt (honestly nothing to do with myself and he also fails to provide evidence of such obviously)

However I have substantial evidence of his lies claiming I left him with 7 mths of unpaid mortgage arrears (reposession was threatened) and all the household utilites not paid for 9 mths ... I can prove with bank/mortgage statements that all were paid mthly and on time via direct debit out of my personal account right upto the mth I left him and also evidence that the mortgage was also paid only going into arrears upon my leaving the marital home and himself taking over, I had to pay rent in a new property .... I left with the children due to domestic violence. had I known the law then as I do now, I would of stayed and had him removed.

What I need to know asap is ...... as an FDR hearing is "without prejudice" can I pull my counteracting evidence from up my sleeve during the FDR hearing or do I wait until the inevitable trial hearing as I dont want to use at the FDR and not to be able to use again at the trial, the most important.

There is a jointly owned property involved worth 100k and hge has offered me 7 k to walk away and him stay there although my 16 year old and I are now in emergency accomodation in a troublesome area and need to get away asap. I want at least 70/30 in my favour

Any advice would be so appreciated a I am self repping as I cant afford a solicitor ..... he on the other hand is represented

in relation to the above ... I want to use my bank statements and mortgage statements and other documentation as clear evidence of his blatant courtroom lies about me

There usually isn't evidence at FDR hearings. It's more about exploring the offers each party has made, and the judge giving her/his opinion.

But you can't keep documents up your sleeve. You have a continuing duty to disclose relevant financial information. You must send copies of these statements to him immediately, and it sounds as though they should have been provided with the Form E (although it depends how long ago you left the property, Form E asks for 12 months past).

Thankyou Traviata for your response .... however, I was not aware until yesterday when I received his bundle that he was going to state so many lies about myself not paying any of the marital home utilities and mortgage payments aswell as other lies. it would seem very unfair if I could not discredit his lies as they make me look an absolutely terrible wife and that his debt is all my fault ! which is not the case at all. I paid every bill and the mortgage for years prior to leaving him ...... surely I can use my evidence to discredit his blatant lies otherwise it seems very unfair for me and the final outcome for me

Janey I agree. If it gets to final hearing and you haven't disclosed these documents previously, you will be in a lot of trouble. The court could even adjourn the final hearing and order you to pay their costs. Please disclose them now.

I didnt know until yesterday he was going to put in his statement his debts were due to me not paying bills. How could I possibly of produced these documents without any prior knowledge of what he was going to state his debts were due to in which he hasnt until yesterday. At the last hearing the judge ordered him to provide this information for evidence as he was saying he had an IVR but there was no evidence from his as to what his debts related to.
I could not of possibly of known this is what he would say because both he and I know its blatant lies hes telling ...... although the judge has requested evidence for his debts he hasn't provided any just confirmed in his statement his debts were incurred because of me.
I dont have a crystal ball so how would I of known that I would have to clear my name so far into the divorce this way with documentation that I luckily have at hand to clear my name and discredit his lies. I couldn't of known, hence why I am asking only now when I can produce my solid documentation to counteract what he is only now saying. Surely I cant be expected to just sit there and allow his lies to be told in court when I have my evidence to cover myself :-(

He was caught out lying in the last hearing in the last hearing relating to his fiances he claimed he only earns £12000 per year and the judge after looking at his bank statements stated he is actually averaging on £2.400 per month hence why she asked him for further evidence relating to how he incurred his debts etc ..... this appears from what you're now saying to leave me guilty by his say so alone ! .....now Im panicking that the final outcome will be so unfair for my son and me based purely on his lies that you say I'm not obliged to prove my innocence any longer

No-one is saying you should have disclosed these documents before. No-one is saying you can't disclose them now. But you must disclose them now. Do not wait until the hearing.

I wasn't ever given any cause to disclose them beforehand, I'm just pleased to hear at least I can to discriminate myself of his latest lies. I will get them all prepared and ready for Monday morning

I would take copies of all the statements and keep copies and send them with a short note to his solicitor immediately suggesting he may want to withdraw the lies as they are clearly proven to be untruths.

It is never really possible or a good thing in legal cases to keep things up your sleeve. Just get it all disclosed as soon as you are aware of relevance. He sounds awful.

On his IVA is it not a public record thing ou can look up on a register to see if he is in one or not? I might be wrong of course.

Hi Lucysky2017

Thank you for your response. He is definitely on an IVA as I have seen the relevant paperwork within his form E.

He is a vile man, infact he's a narcissist. I started the divorce proceedings in March 2014 and all he does is delay the process asking for hard proof of my debts and other information although he provides none of his own, keeping all his financial details very minimalist. I'm very surprised at how the courts allow him to get away with what he does and as I'm a litigant in person I'm really struggling to deal with and cope. He has a solicitor representing him.
Well my big day is tomorrow so we shall see how it goes and thank you all for your responses

Good luck tomorrow. My ex husband and I both used solicitors 9I paid both sides) but at least we were able to reach agreement without court hearingsof any kind nor formal financial disclosure as everything was joint and we both worked full time and had full details of the very simple finances of each other - it made it a lot easier but even so just when we reached agreement at home on the very large sum I must pay him suddenly he increased it by £100k. I reluctantly agreed (he got more than half as I earned more) and then he wanted even more in which case I called him bluff and said - okay court then (which would have cost us a fortune) but he backed down. He needed that extra £100k which he got apparently to take the children on similar nice holidays to when we were married and guess what - in 10 years since he has never taken them on holiday once!

Thankyou Lucysky2017 I need it.
Amazing aren't they, if this has taught me one thing its never to marry again, it's been so tough doing this alone and still a way to go it seems. I am taking my evidence to the court tomorrow. It will be interesting to see him and his solicitors reaction to my paperwork that discredits him and his blatant lies stating I left him in 26k worth of debt. I left him not even aware he had debt !!

Try to take lots of duplicate copies of what you hand out tomorrow (and ideally email it to the other side and court in advance if possible) as there is often not a lot of time in court to show documents compared to handing out copies and perhaps do a short one page summary which you attach your evidence to which lists page 1 bank statement which proves X, p60 which shows Z etc.

I don't think I would marry again now. It's much easier on my own.

Thank you, I've done that, 3 copies in readiness. I emailed the courts with the documents too but I'll hand a copy over to the clerk when I arrive just incase the e-mail hasn't been processed although I marked it urgent. I can feel the tension building already, I really dont know what to expect and how it will be handled tomorrow. I had another letter from his solicitor yesterday when I arrived home from work explaining that he has more information that will be handed over to me at the courts tomorrow with the bundle which I was supposed to of received 06/07/17 as ordered by the judge at the last hearing ! talk about delay tactics

Hi,

sorry to post after such a long time, but this sounds like me exactly now! I could have written this post myself other than the debt part. Im currently waiting for resolution hearing, and experienced all you have above. I am fortunate to have a solicitor (although i have done all work!)
just wondered how you got on in court, and what sort of settlement was reached? im expecting ours won't get resolved at next hearing, so looking for some sort of idea as to what settlement to expect. (know each judge is different so depends on their views i suppose)
Thankyou if you do find time to respond.

To Rubyslippers

As per posts made by Legal on another thread FDR's are often rushed. Booked at 3 per hour apparently. Allow time for couples entering and leaving the court room and you may only have 15 minutes!. In my case it was about 10 minutes!

No way can counsel lay out the summary of their client's case and for the Judge to read all the papers and make a recommendation.

In my case the Divorce proceeded to a Final Hearing and the outcome was no where near the same as what the FDR Judge had recommended (without seeing Ex's form E by the way).

Good luck.

Thank you missedtheboatagain

what I thought may happen in court! Already had several different judges all with differing views of the case! At least I can now prepare for it going to final hearing, and anything before that would be a miracle!