funding divorce

Does anyone have suggestions about how to fund divorce proceedings?

After 22 years of a mainly very happy relationship I asked my husband to leave because, well an affair which he kept lying about and the terrible realization that he just couldn''t be trusted.

I had worked the same hours as our 3 sons at school so that he could continue in his career, with the result that he earned around 26k, me 7k!

I took a degree and qualified at the grand old age of 54! However, I couldn''t find work in 100 mile radius of home, so I left, came to London and found work quickly. I had to leave my sons who by then were either in college or training. I miss them very much but live in a tiny room in a shared flat with no room for them.

I have been clearing debts built up during my studies and becoming a single mum and now only owe £1000. I have petitioned divorce proceedings but can''t keep up solicitor''s fees. I have tried to get a loan but been turned down by my bank although credit rating is considered fair. My husband has made a very poor offer to me and if I accept this will never be able to own a property and have my sons (and eventually grandchildren)to stay.

My husbands earnings have risen and he appears to be doing fine financially and I believe could give me a reasonable settlement by selling or renting out our home. He will not negotiate so I need to fight this as too old to start all over again.

There must be other people in the same situation but bank underwriters (the people responsible for turning me down) won''t even talk to me. They would be in no danger of not getting the loan back and in fact would make a nice bit of profit from me!

Hi there,
I can relate to finding litigation funding almost impossible, however there is a company called Novitas Futures, look it up online.
Be very aware that litigation is a very expensive stressful and long winded process.
Good luck
Tink

Brontejo

I cannot offer any advice re financing your divorce but I wuld just like to say well done you! What a fabulous achievement at 54 which is my age too.

Maybe other wikis will be able to advise but I thought you could pay your fees from the settlement and you will definately be entitled to a share of the family home.

I wish you all the best for the future.

Julie

Well what I did was to do the divorce itself myself; the paper work is reasonably straightforward and can be done using the advice in the library (though it might have been less stressful to use wiki).

For the Consent Order, I have pointed out just how much a contested financial settlement would cots. I actually have examples of couples with bills of £45-50K between them and when I discoverd that a local solicitor charged £250 an hour I could see why. So I downloaded form E - the one you use in a contested financial settlement and we both completed it voluntarily. This was really useful as it showed that some of our assets were worth way more than we thought. Obviosuly yo have to be able to trust someone to complete it accurately - I had a handle on our finances so I''d have known if he lied.

From that we have negotiated the bones of a settlement. If you can do something similar and post details here - respective ages, incomes, assets, liabilities, value of pensions, etc then someone will give you a steer on a reasonable settlement. Given your ae and low earning capacity I''d expect you to get more than 50/50, but we really need the figures.

First of all congratulations on gaining your degree, especially during the traumatic times you must have been going through.

My situation was very similar to yours with the ex having a long term affair and lying every step of the way.

I divorced in 2005 after 35 years together and due to my mental state, did not do well from the settlement. I was awarded periodical payments pcm (spousal maintenance) which, even though there is a court order, he has stopped paying.

I now need to return to court and not having the funds to do this has caused me indescribable stress. I phoned the free UK line at the top right hand of this page and got amazing support, the person also put me in contact with a group of solicitors who specialise in family law. This group can arrange loans via a high street bank which is paid back out of the settlement.

Please don''t let your stbx walk all over you, there is help out there and you need pro-active legal help.

Take care and send me a direct message if you want more details.