Am I exposed??

Hi

I seperated from my wife in May 06. We agreed all the financial stuff pretty quickly and in October 06 I took out a new mortgage, paid her off and the house was transferred into my name. We have now divorced on the grounds of her adultery and the Decree Absolute came through in May. The thing that is bothering me is that although we have a signed and witnessed seperation agreement that lays all this out, we don't have a Consent Order from the courts. Am I exposed? She had 50% of the house equity and the car, which is all we had apart from my pension.

On the subject of pension, she always worked and had the opportunity to pay into one, but never did. Will I have to share mine with her??

Thanks,

Simon.

Hi Simon

Unfortunately the answer to your last question is YES!
In June 2002 my husband divorced his Ex wife on the same grounds, they agreed everything (verbally though) so i dont actually know how seperation agreements work. We met and a year later and in 2004 we got married, She then decided to take my husband to court for ancilliary relief.
For the next two and a half years we have been fighting this through the curts every step of the way. Her demands have been crazy at times. Anyway my husband felt the same way you did, she worked full time throughout their marriage, not even stopping for the period when she had kids, she didnt want to be a stay at home mum (no maternal feelings at all) he knows she had her own pension but has failed in providing the CETV value till just before the Oct hearing this year and even then she didnt provide that, she just provided the courts with a report from the state pension, which shows she opted out of serps and paid into her own but she "cant remember" who the pension is with! She changes jobs like she changes her underwear! Anyway due to a pension actuary report she had done on my husbands pension, at a cost of £1000 plus vat she has been fighting for 70/80% of his pension, the Judge at the FDR stated if she were the Judge at the FH then she would award her 80%!??????? So it went to a FH where she eventually settled for 30%, it has cost her 30K to get this. My husband offered her to get it over with 50% two years ago!
Anyway what I am saying to you is this, I would feel in your shoes "uncomfortable to say the least that you haven't got a consent order, the trouble is, in order to get one everything has to be above board, honest and truthful because even if you got one, if at a later date its found, say that you never declared your pension CETV value, then she can always go back and get it changed, she can also get it changed if she never had legal representation at the time!
So my advice to you is, stay on "friendly terms" if you can, be honest in everything that you put forward, a consent order costs you £40 if you do it yourself, will cost you alot more with a solicitor, ask her if shes happy with it and to take it to a solicitor or seek advice about it. Then get it before a Judge who will if hes happy with it, stamp it.
Maybe someone can help on here who knows about seperation agreements more, in my opinion though, you are no longer seperated you are divorced.

I think things are always fine till you meet someone else and for some reason the ex partners dont seem to like it and thats where the trouble starts?
I find it weird myself! but hey ho who am i?

Sorry i cant put your mind at rest.

Kind ones
Louise

Hopefully I can give you the outcome to that question if my case manages to get to court this time and before Xmas, I'm the same boat as you X has had more than her part of the house 80% appx and signed an agreement with her sol that she was happy with everything then she upped and disapeared. Now that she has blown it all decided she was not able to work things out back then due to her alcholic dependency and depression. 2004 failed to turn up for court appointments. Then turns up in Jan this year after I had met up with a new partner demanding more.