Final Hearing - For Finances (after divorce)

Am representing myself in Court. Having completed the first sitting (ex didnt attend nor did he submit his papers) so jumped straing to Final Hearing. I have no idea what is expected of me for this the Final hearing.

Sorry, can''t help you as i have only had the first hearing - next step for me is the FDR.

Am sure you will get some helpful answers from the lovely Wiki peeps, and best of luck to you for your Final Hearing

Kind regards

I think that the reason you have jumped right from the First Appointment to the Final Hearing is that it is contempt of court to fail to attend a court hearing.

A friend of mine who was only late for a hearing in divorce was told by the judge in no uncertain terms that he was lucky not to be held in contempt of court for simply being late.

I have to say my friend was rather stupid as he had hitched to court rather than going to the expense of getting a taxi a lift from a friend or using public transport.

Anyway, he got a very bad outcome in his financial settlement and 20 years on has not really got over it.

That is not to say that you should feel smug or go for the jugular on your stbx.

However, just keep calm, produce the best paperwork and financial settlement that you can and hope for the best.

There was a bit in the paper yesterday about a juror who decided to skip jury duty and go on a two week holiday. She went to the doctors and got signed off sick and sent the sick note into court.

All was going well until she phoned the court and they could see that she was phoning from abroad leaving a message.

She returned home and was taken to court. She was held in contempt of court and sent to prison.

Generally speaking people in family courts are not sent to prison and I think that although what the lady did was very wrong (and apparently wasted alot of court time as the case was held up) that community service would have been a better penalty. Apart from anything else if she lives in a small community the disgrace will be bad enough let alone anything she might now feel by way of humiliation and shame on her own conscience.

Still, some people (and maybe your husband is one of those because at the very least he should have contacted the court or you to say what the problem was) don''t have any conscience or any respect for the law - let alone themselves.

OMG, just read your post again and he hasn''t even submitted papers. Looks like it is up to you as with no papers submitted and no court appearance the judge can only go on what you say and your disclosures.

I think that you will be OK.

In the meantime if you want to avoid another court case you could write to your husband with your offer for settlement (if you know what that is and put in a closing date of about two weeks before the court date - this will help avoid court and court time and the stress involved.).

Make sure that you mark any offer you do make as an open offer and if you do not know the court date put two weeks before the date allocated by the court for the Final Hearing.