Maintenance Pending Suit Procedure?

Hi...
I wonder if anyone has any experience/knowledge of this?
My sol has applied to the court re 'ancillary relief'... I have received a letter with a date for the 'first appointment' - 4th Feb (oh oh !!!)
However... she also applied for 'Maintenance Pending Suit'... approx 2 weeks ago...
Is this a seperate issue from the ancillary relief proceedings?....
Should I hear 'seperately' regarding MPS?....
I'm just not quite sure whether it all gets 'rolled up into the same bundle'....
I believe that MPS is a measure that is taken while ancillary relief proceedings are 'being dealt with'...
Is it required that myself/STBX attend court re MPS?
I'm just not sure of the procedure regarding this... Any help would be very much appreciated....
SL

MPS is a separate application to the court as no doubt chancellors have took the view the maintenance provision you were receiving was inadequate. Usually, a short statement should be prepared indicating your current income and expenditure and by definition because there are must be a shortfall what in fact your solicitor will be seeking is an interim hearing, which is usually 20 to 30 minutes long to seek an order that until his financial (Ancilliary relief) hearing is concluded your husband will pay that money in the interim.

by the way, ancillary relief is essentially a colloquial name for financial claims the relief is of course divorce and financial claims are ancilliary to the main claim. Whereas lawyers do not use straightforward language I have no idea!

you will have to attend court at the hearing but in reality your evidence will be in the form of the sworn statement which sets out your income/liabilities. Of course, your husband's advocate could cross examine you, however, it is usually a very short affair and may focus on one or two particular expenditures which they may think on contentious.

judges do not spend much time considering matters -- the main aim is to make sure any shortfall is bridged and tactically and early application is not a bad thing especially if a husband is not paying maintenance he has been requested and if so costs often follow the event.

MPS is a separate application to the court as no doubt chancellors have took the view the maintenance provision you were receiving was inadequate. Usually, a short statement should be prepared indicating your current income and expenditure and by definition because there are must be a shortfall what in fact your solicitor will be seeking is an interim hearing, which is usually 20 to 30 minutes long to seek an order that until his financial (Ancilliary relief) hearing is concluded your husband will pay that money in the interim.

by the way, ancillary relief is essentially a colloquial name for financial claims the relief is of course divorce and financial claims are ancilliary to the main claim. Whereas lawyers do not use straightforward language I have no idea!

you will have to attend court at the hearing but in reality your evidence will be in the form of the sworn statement which sets out your income/liabilities. Of course, your husband's advocate could cross examine you, however, it is usually a very short affair and may focus on one or two particular expenditures which they may think on contentious.

judges do not spend much time considering matters -- the main aim is to make sure any shortfall is bridged and tactically and early application is not a bad thing especially if a husband is not paying maintenance he has been requested and if so costs often follow the event.

hi
tes two seperate issues my mps was in june but x2b made offer literally at doors of court... we still went b4 judge who basically rubber stamped it and granted nisi and aknowledged satisfaction refards kids and the access from x2b ... which i might add is zero. I had 2 1st hearings adjourned and finally had it in sept.. got fdr in 2 weeks 6 days (not that counting) and very nervous bout outcome and dread it being dragged on into a fh
hope of help..looby

Thankyou both for your replies....
attila.... the maintenance provision I am receiving is NONE !!!!... so, hopefully, I should be able to receive some assistance from my S2BX...
Looby.... may I ask why your first 2 hearings were adjourned?
I am 'concerned' because my S2BX and his sol are over 2 hours drive away from where the court proceedings will take place... could this be a 'reason' for 'non attendance'?
My point being... re 'first appoinment' or MPS hearing... they will have to drive for 2+ hours to get to the court... attend the hearing.. then drive 2+ hours back...
Now, my S2BX can take the time off work.. but it seems to be a lot of 'time' for his sol... will his sol just 'charge' him for all this time????

Any idea how long the MPS should take???
I am under the impression that start to finish shouldn't take too long...
I am aware that the ancillary relief could 'drag on' if we can't agree...

Thanks again for any further advice
SL

HI again
My hearings where adjourned for the following reasons.
Although i am 2 hours away i turned up having to sort childcare etc... myx2b also turned up but on both occasions had failed to complete form E... costs awarded against him but i got no reimbursement re time and travel.
the mps because i just took offer at time was like about 5 mns'
ancillary relief was from first appt to fdr dates as followed... hearing 14th sept form e questions to be answered by 26th oct and fdr was to be set on or after 19th nov.. my date so far is 5th dec but feel sure there will be some hiccup as thats what ive come to expect.. so hey anything above that is a bonus.
you as most on here will have a headache permanently but hopefully be a damn big effective annadin administered at the end
good wishes to you looby

Hi K!

As said above the Ancillary Relief is the application for the final financial split. The Maintenance Pending Suit is an application for money while the divorce process drags on.

One thing I would mention is that you should put in the application for Ancillary Relief every principle you can think of, because I don't think you can introduce anything later. For instance, for those having joint ownership of the former marital home, if the non-resident doesn't apply for the sale of the house and distribution of the proceeds then it is assumed he/she is quite happy for the resident spouse to live there.

The danger is that the Court may take that position as a starting point when apportioning the split, which might be fair and then again could be grossly unfair.

You can always withdraw later from whatever it is you ask for in the AR application (especially if you manage to settle outside of court) but the Court will assume that when the application comes in it has been based on serious thought.

You should base your application for MPS on what you reasonably need now but bear in mind that your budget need not include scrimping on anything - AND as for it to be backdated to the time you ex left you.