Anyone with experience of first hearings for divorce finances?

[Serendipity79]

Hi, I am due in court this week (by phone) for my first financial hearing. The ex is ignoring all communication from the court and myself, hasn't sent in his form E, and I am not even sure he will be at the hearing. I've completed my paperwork, sent it to him and the court, and filled in the form to show my costs so far, plus let them know that I'm not in a position to proceed due to his non compliance. He didn't comply with the divorce, I had to process serve him, even then he continued to ignore it, similarly with costs for the divorce I ended up obtaining a default costs certificate which has remained unpaid for a year.

Does anyone have any experience of these hearings - is it likely to get adjourned or will the judge carry on without him?

thank you

Well, you have two choices at this stage.

You can either ask the judge to grant him more time and attach a penal notice to the order granting him more time. You then pay for this to be served personally on him (will cost around £200 or so) and then if he still fails to comply you apply to have him committed to prison.

Or if you are happy you know what there is (eg there's a house in joint names, he has no savings and no pension - or at least not as much as you) you can ask the judge to proceed as if he does not intend to be heard. See if the judge will make the next hearing the final hearing, and set out in the order that you're asking the court to transfer the house in to your sole name, unless he files a Form E, in which case the next hearing can stand as the adjourned FDA hearing.

@Collaborate

Well, you have two choices at this stage.

You can either ask the judge to grant him more time and attach a penal notice to the order granting him more time. You then pay for this to be served personally on him (will cost around £200 or so) and then if he still fails to comply you apply to have him committed to prison.

Or if you are happy you know what there is (eg there's a house in joint names, he has no savings and no pension - or at least not as much as you) you can ask the judge to proceed as if he does not intend to be heard. See if the judge will make the next hearing the final hearing, and set out in the order that you're asking the court to transfer the house in to your sole name, unless he files a Form E, in which case the next hearing can stand as the adjourned FDA hearing.

Thank you for this speedy response, it is really helpful

I don’t have any further advice - the reply above is excellent!

But wanted to add that my ex has been like this. He ignored all paperwork, didn’t file his Form E etc. He did actually turn up to the hearing, where he was ordered to produce his full Form E within 7 days. There was a penal notice attached to that. He did provide his Form E within that timeframe, but it’s very deficient.

I also successfully claimed my costs from that first hearing - the judge agreed that due to his failure to produce documents the hearing was a waste of my time & money, so they ordered ex to pay my costs. I don’t know if this is something you could consider?

That was last Dec! And we are finally due back for another attempt at a first hearing next month. Where undoubtedly we will go through the whole rigmarole again 🙄

Best of luck to you!

@ElephantStamping

I don’t have any further advice - the reply above is excellent!

But wanted to add that my ex has been like this. He ignored all paperwork, didn’t file his Form E etc. He did actually turn up to the hearing, where he was ordered to produce his full Form E within 7 days. There was a penal notice attached to that. He did provide his Form E within that timeframe, but it’s very deficient.

I also successfully claimed my costs from that first hearing - the judge agreed that due to his failure to produce documents the hearing was a waste of my time & money, so they ordered ex to pay my costs. I don’t know if this is something you could consider?

That was last Dec! And we are finally due back for another attempt at a first hearing next month. Where undoubtedly we will go through the whole rigmarole again 🙄

Best of luck to you!

Thank you my hearing was today and he did attend. He has been given 7 days to send his form E in, an instruction to divulge his address so I can serve my questionnaire promptly, and a dressing down for shouting abuse at the judge. Next hearing is in 6 weeks so fingers crossed it will all be over soon. I didn't ask for costs today, but will do next time if we cant progress - I just want it over truly!

Oh I’m very glad you’ve made some progress! And I hope he does the Form E properly and supplies the other documentation required.

I think you must be in a very different part of the country to me and I am very jealous 😂 As I said, my equivalent of the hearing you had today was last Dec - our next hearing was then scheduled for April, but was cancelled and now isn’t until the end of Sept! Whereupon my Form E will be the best part of a year old, and his will be nearly 10 months old, so my solicitor has warned me we may have to start it all over again, and likely won’t get back in court until next Jan/Feb.

I absolutely echo you just wanting to get it over with - it’s been 2 years since we started mediation now, and over a year since I first applied to the court, and we’ve gotten absolutely nowhere. I just want to move on with my life!

I truly hope things progress quickly for you!

What happens on the telephone hearing, do you speak of your lawyer? I have mine in a few weeks and yet to receive husbands Form E. mine is filed at court and ready to exchange!

@Fightingback16 I haven’t had a telephone hearing for my finances yet, but I’ve had a couple for the children/custody in the last few months.

The telephone hearing is literally just the court room. So mainly the judge and solicitors/barristers talking unless you’re asked to talk, the same as a normal court room.

My barrister called me about an hour before to discuss, then spoke to my ex-h (who was representing himself) - the same as they would have discussions at physical court before the hearing. Then fed back to me, so we all knew where we stood before the actual hearing.

My barrister emailed through the court order to all parties so they could look at it and discuss it. If I had any questions or urgent points I could email him at the time.

I’d suggest confirming with your solicitor what arrangements they’ll do, but I’d guess it would be pretty similar to the above.

Best of luck!

@ElephantStamping

Oh I’m very glad you’ve made some progress! And I hope he does the Form E properly and supplies the other documentation required.

I think you must be in a very different part of the country to me and I am very jealous 😂 As I said, my equivalent of the hearing you had today was last Dec - our next hearing was then scheduled for April, but was cancelled and now isn’t until the end of Sept! Whereupon my Form E will be the best part of a year old, and his will be nearly 10 months old, so my solicitor has warned me we may have to start it all over again, and likely won’t get back in court until next Jan/Feb.

I absolutely echo you just wanting to get it over with - it’s been 2 years since we started mediation now, and over a year since I first applied to the court, and we’ve gotten absolutely nowhere. I just want to move on with my life!

I truly hope things progress quickly for you!

Yes I thought a week was very quick but the judge asked him how long he needed and he said just a few days, so I assume he’s been putting it together already but just didn’t file on time. The judge said it’s a very small assets case, shouldn’t really be in court (and we wouldn’t be if the ex had been willing to respond to one of the many emails my solicitor sent which I made clear to the judge) and he said if possible, and the ex files on time then the next hearing will be used as the FDR.

I was exempt from mediation but I first applied to court in November last year so it’s definitely taking a while at the moment with Covid etc going on.