Quick advice for friend needed.

[poshme]

A friend has decided to leave her horrible abusive husband.
It's been ongoing for a while (her leaving) but today she is going to pack up and stay at a friends house. It's short notice.

Are there any vital things she needs to take?
She has passports already.

Birth certificates
Bank information
Any essentials like phones, tablets, computers etc and chargers
Photos your friend would like to keep (have read on here about photos being destroyed by exes, including first photos of dcs if your friend has any)
Basic clothes
Any other important documents
Hope your friend will be safe

Any financial information she has or can get on husband.
Proof of his income can help.
Driving license
Car reg documents
Keys
Copies of documents regarding mortgage or tenancy
And anything else she can get from this check list
www.eavesforwomen.org.uk/get-advice/get-help/leaving-an-abusive-relationship

Lots of these are trivial and you can get duplicates, but if he has time...

Call 101 and speak to the DV unit and give them a heads up of the situation.

Make sure she checks any devices for tracking apps.
Get a new SIM card and give the current one to someone else so he can't contact her. And any messages can be checked by the other person.
Keep that SIM card as proof of threats and harrassment.

If she has any pictures of injuries resulting from violence, get them logged with the police. This will help to get legal aid when she needs it.

Make sure all family and friends are aware and there to support her and to keep him away from her and keep her safe.

She should not steal his documents or snoop and copy his private stuff e.g. bank statements. The courts take a dim view of that now.

She should definitely take any (copy) documents about her own financial stuff or joint assets. Address books or a list of phone numbers and contact details so she can keep in contact with anyone she needs to eg GP, schools etc.

Denzil What do you mean 'dim view'? I thought all assets are assets of the marriage? And also, if it came to her having to use copies she had obtained in this way, surely it would mean the husband had failed to declare them, so why would the court take a dim view of it?

MyChild, from www.familylaw.co.uk:

"The Court of Appeal has ruled in the case of Imerman that that the Hildebrand rules, which historically have enabled a wife or husband to secretly obtain, copy and use each others' documents in divorce proceedings, have "no basis in law" and are unlawful.

"...The case clarifies whether and in what circumstances a party should be permitted to retain and or make use of 'irregularly obtained information'."

You will nowadays be ordered to give the documents back and quite possibly in some cases stopped from making use of the information in them in any divorce.

Thanks all.
She's safe tonight.