Divorce Form E & Cohabitation

[DaveTheDog]

My DP is going through a high conflict divorce. I met him long after they separated and we have been a couple for about 18 months. The divorce is awful - very slow going and his Ex keeps delaying matters.

We live in different towns about an hour and a half away from each other, we live in separate homes and have no financial links at all.

We spend about 10 - 15 days together a month, mostly in my home (easier as my kids live with me and because of my job), this is usually in chunks of 2-5 days at a time.

Sometimes we share a food shop and my DP will send me half the money electronically (showing in his bank statements) - this amounts to about £200 max over the last 12 months.

We have a diary which is backed up by his bank statements in terms of geography, own separate bills, his tenancy agreement and other proof to show that our finances are living arrangements are entirely separate and that he spends the rest of his time at his home.

His Ex is claiming that we Cohabit. It’s obviously so she can claim he needs a lesser share of the assets. They are going to court over finances soon.

In the relevant section on Form E my DP simply answered NO to cohabitation.

What is likely to happen in court?

Do WE have to show proof / justify our living arrangements or is it up to her to provide proof?

Thanks

200 each month or every month?

Forgot to mention: he’s self representing

Duh! Each month or over the 12 months I meant

If you add up all the £20 - £30 here and there it’s a total of £200 in 12 months he’s owed me and sent electronically.

I’ve sent him about £80 in total over the last 12 months when it’s worked the other way round. That is the extent of any financial link between us.

If he is paying bills and mortgage then that is surely proof. I don't live with my partner and we have more money than that passing between us.

If he's got his own place,pays bills council tax etc the he's just visiting you.Paying you £200 a month towards food will look like just that as it is not enough for anything else.
Your finances are seperate so are not relevant or admissible,you have nothing to do with anything in court between him and his ex.

It’s NOT £200 a month even!

It’s like £20 - £30 a month

It is a total of about £200 from him to me and £80 from me to him over the whole 12 months bank statements provided with Form E

Any idea how court will respond when she raises this though? Does he have to provide evidence or should she?

Also is making a false claim like this (she’s likely to rant about it) going to count against her?

The rest of her claim on his assets is appalling - she pretty much wants all if it (three properties involved). Her ‘logic’ is that he lives with me so doesn’t need any share to buy himself a property.

Sharing of assets is not influenced by cohabiting which it doesn't sound like you are.
The financial agreement tools at his assets and hers so cohabiting with you makes no difference to that as he would have no increase in assets as your house/money etc are nothing to do with the case between you and their divorce.
In fact if he has children and is unscrupulous he could say he is cohabiting(which would make no difference divorce settlement wise)he could end up paying his wife less child maintenance by claiming he is supporting your children.

Blimey!!!

He wouldn’t say that - but in our situation dealing with the character his Ex is that really would be quite a thing - almost worth it to see the look on her face....

@TheHagOnTheHill That, I'm afraid, is wrong. When assets get shared out the court always takes in to account need. Therefore if one side is already living with someone, or about to, their need to get capital for housing isn't as strong. That is why, in the Form E, if cohabitation is declared, details have to be given of the partner's income and capital.

From the research we’ve done separately and the responses here it does seem that we have nothing to worry about.

I’m struggling to find any definition of cohabitation for the purposes of Form E.

I agree @TheHagOnTheHill it is wrong - and if that were the case with us I sincerely doubt he’d be filling in a form showing he supports my two children.

There is no comprehensive definition of cohabitation in UK law. If his ex wishes to allege that he is cohabiting with you it will be up to her to show that, on the balance of probabilities, that is true. If you are keeping your finances separate and he is spending the majority of his time living elsewhere she is unlikely to succeed in showing that you are cohabiting. She might, of course, try to convince the court that you intend to cohabit as soon as the divorce is out of the way.

@prh47bridge yes - something we are also sure she will try. But there’s more to this situation - which he was trying to keep out of the financial court case. It is likely a child arrangements case will follow after Absolute. His Ex has prevented their child from meeting me and my family, she has relocated away from where I live. Therefore, as my DP has made a commitment (which I support) to live close to his Daughter and her school so that he can continue to look after her when his Ex is working... this means Cohabitation is simply not possible - actually by her making!

We don’t know what the future holds...

Do you think the court will accept this?

As I understand it, courts don’t like people to tittle tattle on about relationship issues and history etc... His Ex is likely to. So I suppose if she says we will Cohabit immediately afterwards he will be forced to reveal the above in order to defend himself.

The thing is the courts will have heard it all before. My partners ex tried the same stunt. In the end the settlement was fair. Neither her nor him thought it was of course!