Ancillary Relief Can I Apply - Please help

Hi,

My wife and i have been seperated for 5 months after 5 years of marriage. She has all (although limited) of our cash assetts etc etc.

We have not applied for the divorce as yet, and will probably see out the two year process in order to keep costs at a minimum.

In the meantime, am i able to apply for ancillary relief with out formal documents in place, or do i have to wait. She has left me financially crippled. If i am unable to apply for ancillary relief, could i take her to small claims court or not?

Hi

1. I would have said that you have to petition for divorce first and lodge your claim for ancillary relief as part and parcel of the process. ' Ancillary ' means ancillary to the divorce - so if no divorce, no ancillary relief.

2. However, claiming ancillary relief is one thing - getting it can be another. I can't possibly comment on the merits of any claim and you may have balance what you might stand to get against the legal costs involved in getting it. No point in spending £5000 to recover £5000.

3. I'm 99.99999% sure that you can't use the Small Claims Court for ancillary relief. However you make a valid point ; if the sums involved are only trivial, you need a rough and ready, cheap and cheerful, way of resolving any disputes.. In theory a Court ought to adopt this sort of approach in low value cases, but I don't have the experience to judge how effective this rule is - if indeed it is effective at all.

Hi

Just to clarify a point........
My husband and his ex wife had many debts, all of which he took on as they had made a verbal agreement. Two years after divorce absolute she started ancilliary relief proceedings. During one particular hearing the debts were referred to, ( my husband feels she broke their verbal agreement so he now wants her half of the debts) so he asked for a sec37 order to stop her selling her house in order to get rid of her assets! As my husband had never filed form A, and could never file a Form A (as he has remarried) the Judge said he couldnt actually make a claim against her for anything. i.e. he couldnt stop her from selling her house or disposing of her assets, she is free to do as she pleases with her money. However what he could do was take her to civil court to reclaim any money she owed or another alternative would be to reduce whatever pension percentage she may get by the amount she owed in debts.
Hope the above makes sense.
Kind ones
Louise