Hidden Assets Divorce

[august29]

Hi
Anyone have experience with this?
We have had a financial order (agreed by ourselves on a roughly 50/50 basis) produced by a solicitor and signed off by the court.
House sale currently going through and divorce will be finalised and financial order will kick in on completion of sale.
I have now discovered the ex has a second pension worth around £40k that they didn't declare. I had questioned why their pension was so low and was fobbed off with some excuse about the pension CE value being calculated in this way - when I googled it, I saw many topics about this calculation coming out lower than expected, so I accepted it.
I had also requested other bank statements that were never provided, but it was just a relief to sign the agreement after a tough year.

Now, what is the best way to approach this?
Should I let the order kick in so it is all legally binding first? Then go back to ex and say I've found this out and they need to sort it out legally otherwise I will have to contact solicitor and take to court? As they've effectively tried to rob me and could have got away with it, should I then demand more than 50%? Will they be responsible for all legal fees? Or does this need sorting straightaway?

My first thought after the discovery:
So that's why they finally agreed to 50/50 after a year of ridiculous demands 😉

Any advice appreciated.
Thanks

In my experience he will get away with it. My ex repeadedly failed to provide full disclosure and order was made anyway

Have you got proof?
If so, send to your solicitor and ask what you should do

Has the D81/form E been completed, signed and submitted to court? If so, call the police. This is a crime in 2 ways: contempt of court (lying to court by signing a court document knowing you have not been truthful) and fraud. Theoretical these crimes can result in fines or even prison sentence. The D81 and form E , I think, both contain the warnings on contempt of court at the signature piece

if it had not yet gone to the court. Stop. Get the evidence. Contact a solicitor to write to him with evidence that he is trying to committ both these offences. Get solicitor to State what the penalty is. And say you expect him to resubmit his forms immediately and this is what you expect agreement to now be in light of this

courts take a dim view of people lying and committing contempt - there are examples where the offender has come out a lot worse off by trying *to hide assets to the court.

as I understand it, once a financial order is sealed by court, you have to go through higher court hearing to cancel it in case of fraud/contempt. A very expensive and risky process. I wouldn’t risk not acting on evidence I have now that he’s trying to committ a crime, but then I’m risk adverse and not a solicitor.

https://www.mediateuk.co.uk/financial-disclosure-on-divorce/

Oh, and be careful..if your evidence was achieved by hacking into their personal data (eg hacking passwords etc) you too are guilty of a crime and it won’t look good.
you need evidence that has been obtained legitimately by yourself.
if you don’t have that, then you’ll need to talk to a solicitor to get a financial investigator to do the work impartially. That can be costly which is why so many people don’t follow up through courts.

Depending on the kind of pension it is, it won’t be undervalued. And they aren’t equivalent to cash. The cost of having its value offset against cash assets is likely to be more than the benefit you would receive.

You might be entitled to a few extra £K but if he’s not willing to negotiate what value would you place on your mental health and the extra lawyers fees to get there?

Thanks for your responses! Much appreciated.

Yes, form e submitted to court. Order approved by court, but only active from point of divorce finalised (decree absolute - still on old system), which will be after house sale completed, per the financial document and agreement.

Right ok. I thought it would be easier for me to claim if it is clear they did not declare, but from your responses I see I shouldn't count on that. Good to know.

How I found out? Chatting to a teacher friend. My ex is a teacher and her declared pension does not correlate with what she should be getting. I was told to check the payslip, which shows the pension version (7.4), with details of this pension available to see online. Govt pay in 25 ish % or something like that (I have details at home).