Divorce financial disclosure

[Thaddea]

We are finally divorcing after 30 years and I'm OK about that. I'd been half expecting it for a decade, so have been putting legacy and another minor windfalls into a non-joint online bank account. I'm 99% certain DH doesn't know about it. No post has every come to the house and I'm pretty careful.

We're at the financial disclosure stage. I know I should tell him about this but feel if I did it would show I'd not been putting everything (I mean energy and well as money) into the relationship.

If I don't declare it on Form E what's the worst that can happen? If he suspects, but doesn't actually know, what can he do to find out?

Just fill in the form honestly, I can’t believe this is even a question. Don’t lie to the courts.

Yes don’t lie but if some of the money happened to go before then 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

Talk to your lawyer. You will not necessarily lose the assets you are worried about, although the starting point for financial settlements is 50:50 there are lots of other factors which may be involved - your and your ex's future earning power, costs of children under 18, your wishes about whether you want a clean break or ongoing maintenance payments from the higher earning partner to the lower. These payments can be problematic if you think he may try to wriggle out of them in future, a not uncommon occurrence.

Put the money in your child’s name in an account you have control over

@fabbychix

That is not likely to work, if you have control over the account then the court will take the view that the money is yours. Giving it unconditionally to children over 18 might work but then it would not be yours anyway so there would be no point in hiding it.

Thanks all, some helpful moral and practical nudges here.

@ Anothernick

can i ask about childrens accounts?
I am in the middle of messy divorce - i've not touched my children's bank accounts since a deposit was made the day before we split.
I have not declared the childrens accounts on E1 - as they belong to the children and are for the future. Ex would only have a rough idea of the value - and is not named on the account - only I am.
Is there any way ex can 'go after' this money? (it is quite a lot...but all deposited before the split.....and no money in/out since)

I divorced without filling in a form E we came to an agreement without it, my ex had debt he wanted to hide from me, and it made sense for me to let him, however, you do eventually have to complete and sign a disclosure form (D81) to get the consent order signed off by a judge (even if you agree terms without going to court), you can be charged with contempt of court if you lie. It's a calculated risk. I might have been tempted to rest some money in someone else's account briefly.

Not cool @Thaddea Would you be impressed if he’d hidden a multi million pound lottery win from you and that’s why he’s suddenly so keen to divorce? Just put it on the form E and move onto the next stage of your life.