Forced into clean break

[FinallyFree18]

At court last week the judge was a horrendous bully and forced my solicitor into getting me to agree to a clean break. I had legal aid due to domestic violence and this seemed to piss the judge off as they thought it was a dreadful waste of public money and why should the public purse fund a consent order. The only assets were pensions. My ex works full time, I'm currently not working and haven't paid into a pension for 5 years now but will return part time in the next 9 months hopefully. My pension was worth 32k less than his (35k compared to 67k) I was told the starting point is 50:50 and that pensions were evened out to make things fair. I know my share would have been small but I'm upset that the judge bullied and dismissed the case (which the court had previously ordered us to sort) and I had to sign the form there and then. They were not open to any suggestions of a pension sharing order and my solicitor was essentially silenced and ridiculed.
Is there anything I can do?

I am sorry to hear you had such a bad experience but with those figures being so low it most likely wont be worth your time to chase up i am afraid.

You could make a offical complant if you think it would be worth it but. Legal aid wont cover you to again chase such small sums.

It seems unfair but try to move on as it will cost you more money then you will get.

Just because your ex works doesn’t mean you get spouse maintenance. How much does he earn?

I didn't say anything about spousal maintenance. I'm talking about pension sharing.

Do you realise that when you say you’ve been forced In to a clean break you mean forced to accept no spouse maintenance?

If the only thing to argue over was a small difference in pensions I’m not surprised the judge felt you we’re wasting court time.

@Collaborate my ex applied to court to sort the finances after refusing to discuss them. A judge previously told us we HAD to come to an agreement over the finances before the DA would be granted.
I was told I was entitled to a share of his pension as the starting point is 50:50.
No mention of spousal maintenance at any point whatsoever. Not sure why your attitude is so arsey.

Guess I was given the wrong advice by my solicitor and the one previous to him too. Not the first time that what a solicitor has said that hasn't lined up with what the court has said.

The solicitors are right the starting point is 50 / 50 but with such low figures after all costs being taken into account you would of gotten at most 2-5k (most pension schemes have penilities for withdrawing early)

Depending on the length of the marriage you might not even get that (aka if you were only married for 2 years / short marrage ) and with pension pots being so close together (yes on paper 32k difference appears large but in the scheme of pensions its like going to court to argue about 500 - 1k bank account) So maybe the judge was annoyed at what they think was a waste of courts time and with such little to argue over might of been better to walk away with what you both have.

There was mention of spouse maintenance. Your plaintive thread title says you we’re forced to accept no spouse maintenance. What did you mean to say when referring to a clean break?

I really am not being arsey.

Guess I was given the wrong advice by my solicitor and the one previous to him too. Not the first time that what a solicitor has said that hasn't lined up with what the court has said

How many solicitors did you go through before the Final Hearing? Did you provide the solicitors with the full story? Did you take on board their advice or was it all ignored as not what you wanted to hear, but as you were receiving Legal Aid you could afford to keep going on and on in the hope of a better deal? Sounds like that is what the Judge concluded.

If the only assets were 35K and 67K I would have thought Solicitors could have worked out a deal without the need to involve courts.

Does going to court mean the solicitor earns more from the case, I wonder, hence the bad advice twice.

Always hard to know whether or not professional advisers' are looking out for their own interests first and prolong things. Legal, pension advisers, estate agents, mortgage advisers, stock brokers and even trades people all get their turn at being blamed for bad advice and overcharging.

Settle amicably is my recommendation.

It was my ex who refused to cooperate with my solicitor. The decree nisi was pretty quick and the absolute then took 5 years because my ex delayed the process over and over. He refused to give information, didn't fill out the form E correctly, was generally abusive and then instead of doing things via my solicitor he (litigant in person) decided to apply to court. First time the judge dismissed the application as he hadn't applied properly. Second time was the last time and he chose to go via court as this is what he likes to do. He's been vexatious and using the court system to continue his abuse of me.
I'll leave it there, thanks.

Now you've described him, it sounds like a clean break is the best outcome!

I'm not sure which parts of your settlement you disagree with, though, nor why

This sounds like a good thing. You've been in limbo for 5 years and are now free to start your own life. Start working and paying into your pension would be my best advice.

As Collaborate says, a clean break means you don't have spousal maintenance. It has nothing to do with pension sharing. And I agree with him - he isn't being arsey.

As others have said, whilst the difference between your pension pots seems large, the actual amount you might have received could be quite small. And if there were other assets available the judge may have given you a bigger share of those to compensate for your ex having a bigger pension.

The decree nisi was pretty quick and the absolute then took 5 years because my ex delayed the process over and over

If your ex was LIP and you were receiving Legal aid then your ex had nothing to lose by dragging it out. May have been to his benefit as 5 years allows assets and money to be moved elsewhere undetected if done in regular small amounts discreetly?