Disclosure or not ?

From a bit of googling it would appear that a full (form E) financial disclosure may not be a requirement - only required for any settlement to be deemed binding. Can anyone clarify ?

The reason for my question - I am the respondent in an about to be filed divorce petition. I made the first move by announcing my desire to leave the marriage and moved out. My priority has been to resolve our financial situation, however my wife chose to involve a solicitor and plans to file.

Based upon my calculations of equity in the family home I have made what I believe to be a generous offer to walk away from what equity I have in the property, this more than balances 50% of my other assets (cash and car).

At times my wife is open and reasonable and we have discussed the possibility of coming to a mutually agreed financial position which we then get formalised by a solicitor...however her solicitor keeps pushing for a full financial disclosure.

I have nothing to hide but want to avoid unnecessary delays and solicitor costs as well as being concerned that, having already made my offer the solicitor may choose to push for something further.

As my wife seems unsure as to her rights and what she is aiming for as an end goal settlement I have major concerns that we could spend hours discussing outcomes via solicitors (£££) rather than with each other.

Once the assets are carved up I'll be more than happy to discuss ancillary relief and maintenance - we have 2 children and she has no income so I am expecting to to be liable for 25-33% of my salary in this regard.

Anciliary relief includes the carving up of assets. Don't forget that your pension is an asset so if you have one then probably your balance of equity versus cash and car is not as fair as you think it is. Your wife may not know what she wants because she is unsure how much money there really is, and this may be a matter of putting everything that counts into the equation, not a matter of trust.

Form E is lenghty but useful for establishing who has what and what they are worth. Maybe you could both fill them in and then go to mediation with that information.

Best wishes,
Sadie

Afraid I'm one of those idiots without a pension If Form E is the only route are there any known ways to make it all as quick, painless and cheap as possible ?

I de-instructed my solicitor last week due to things not moving on whilst he charged me £450/hr to respond to any emails or do any other work....for an net forward movement of zero I was presented with a bill for £1300 so looking to avoid solicitors, IFAs or mediators as much as possible.

I have provided my wife with a full picture of my assets and finances via email and in person - from what I can see the only 'benefit' she gets from a Form E is legal formality, i.e. an assurance that I'm not trying to hide anything ??

Mediators are much cheaper at £45 per person per session. say six sessions and u should have a financial settlement with a Consent Order and a Decree Absolute for a further £30 court fee.

If your ex is reasonable the whole thing can be wrapped up in £400.

You may come to some agreement between yourselves and ask a sol to draw up a document. When submitted to court along with a simplified financial statement Form M1 or D81 this is known as a Consent order, and if the judge likes it and it's seen to be fair it will be approved and become legally binding.

CraigBruce,

For one thing, don't consider yourself to be an idiot for not having a pension. You may surprise yourself with your sagacity while this government continues to raid pension funds.

Relate have their simpler version of Form E. As Special Dad says, mediation is cheaper and a good forum for having discussion without going off at a tangent onto recrimination.

They also prepare financial agreements in a format that can be given to solicitors to check and then to the court as an application for a consent order.

Hi

Can i also say here just be careful, if what ever you both decided "amicably" and neither had legal representation at the time, then it leaves the other party open to coming back years later and overturning what was originally said.
Even if you get a consent order and its stamped by a Judge who asks you both and deems it to be fair.
There will always be some solicitor who says you werent advised properly and take it back to court!
My advice is what ever you decide, try to be amicable and fair, make any offers in writing to her solicitors, negotiate between yourselves by all means but make sure she informs her solicitors. That way, any future claims she may make will be that much harder, if it was all done and dusted above board with legal representation.

Kind Regards
Louise