My disclosure in partner's ex's financial claim

[TwoTuesday]

I have posted about this previously, when it was only a possibility. Partner's almost ex wife (10 years since split) is now pursuing a financial claim against him and it has become quite nasty.
They have now asked for the "unredacted mortgage application" which will include my bank statements, payslips etc. Do I have to provide that information? I thought they had no right to third party info. I paid the deposit etc - will it be up to me to prove that it was my money and not DP's (if this would make a difference)?

No excuse for such carelessness on my part, but they had an amicable split and they had been separated for many years by the time we bought our house, no indication that either would ever cause trouble for the other. But yes stupid of me.

How stressful for your relative. We have made wills, prompted by all this, so hopefully ex won't come back again once all this is finished..whenever that is!
It seems the more you give people like that, the more they want.

Did you protect your deposit using a declaration of trust at least ?

We have a declaration of trust. But even if it's just his part that she claims on, we'd have to extend the mortgage which probably would not be possible given our ages and affordability. It is a mess.

Go and engage a solicitor (your DP needs to and you) and he can counterclaim for the marital home.
Then an actual negotiation can begin.

I don't know if the court would take into account that we (and my 2 children who live with us) would lose our home in that situation. We'd have to sell up and could be unable to afford another place having lost a chunk of equity, plus stamp duty, costs of moving etc. I guess we'll see.

He has got a solicitor who has offered to settle it with pension share only, that has been rejected. I haven't got one yet as I am not part of the proceedings. It looks like it is going to court.

She will not get spousal. Who told her she would? That’s ridiculous. In terms of your disclosure, you can refuse unless ordered by the court. My ex-h’s OW was ordered to disclose because they were living the life of bloody riley and spaffing cash like there was no tomorrow. So the outcome will be dependent on the hearing.

Her solicitor, I presume. She did have a go at claiming maintenance pending suit as well, but dropped it before it got to court.
The idea that he has lots of money hidden away is a bad joke, he has never had a lot of money. If anything she's better off than him.

So is the situation -

She has house worth e.g. £250,000
Your DP had pension worth e.g. £250,000
Children are now over 18?

And now she wants spousal support, to keep the matrimonial home and an also share of his pension? After 10 years?

When did the last child turn 18? Is this because she had lost the maintenance payments?

If I were your DP I’d counter claim for a share of the matrimonial home and any pension she has.

I think you might see it more clearly if there are some hypothetical figures. (As will be obvious the key will be the respective values of equity vs pensions.)

Former Marital home - £250,000 mortgage £180,000 so net equity £70,000
Your jointly owned home - £250,000 mortgage £150,000 net equity £100,000 - your ring fenced share £60,000 - so his share of the joint equity - £40,0000
His pension £300,000
Her pension £200,000

Joint assets are therefore (70k+40k+300k+200k) £610,000
Assume a 50:50 split as starting point £305,000
Her assets (70k+200K) £270,000
His assets (40k+300k) £340,000
So he needs to give her (305-270) £35,000 of additional assets which doesn't necessarily have to be cash - could be pension.

This is very crude as the value of future pensions is not as much as pound for pound against the value of a house and a judge may take into account that she has a few more years to make contributions to hers than your DP has. But its a pretty good starting point. Spousal is pretty difficult to get these days especially as she has no young or disabled children at home so can work full time. I'd suggest that your solicitor and his solicitor work from this sort of a start point.

Spousal is as rare as hens teeth these days and usually only in exceptional circumstances and for a limited period. She is of working age and perfectly able to support herself. Sounds like solicitor is more interested in running up her legal bill. This is such a weird thing to do after 10 years.

Counter claim for her assets.

As they are married so still fully financially tied, i suggest your OH counters her with the same as she's asked for from him (full 50% equity of the marital home at its current equity value, 50% of her pension and spousal maintenance for him as she earns more and is younger).

This is what I would do. Two can play at that game. While I always agree that fair settlement is the right thing, to wait this long is ludicrous. Never mind going for spousal 🙄. Your partner has been really silly letting this happen and not divorcing OP. You absolutely do not tie yourself financially to a new relationship while you’re still married. My ex made that stupid error. I hope that there is an easy solution.

I thought so too, re costs.
Her solicitor tried to make him pay £1000 costs as part of him agreeing to not apply for the final order, he refused to pay said costs, so they ended up in court at her solicitor's behest. His ex turned up unrepresented, no costs schedule was provided. The judge said she had no idea why they were in her court and just referred it to the financial hearing.
He has asked about a counter claim, waa told that the court will just weigh up the total assets and divide, so either one of them could potentially end up paying the other.

Poster above had the best advice, can you specific exactly what numbers we are discussing here (or rounded) to give you the best advice? It might seem irrelevant but these things tend to matter in court.
See Londonmummy66s post.