Anyone with legal knowledge?

shoe*diva79

A friend of mine is going through divorce. He received a consent order from the court on Thursday detailing he is to give his soon to be ex wife £15k lump sum by this coming Tuesday. This is the divorce settlement. There are no martial assets and he does not have the funds to give her. He has tried to get a loan from 2 different companies but has been turned down both times.

Does anyone know what will happen if he cant pay her? He doesn't have a problem with her having the money, he just does not have it! The undertaking in the consent order says he can go to prison if he refuses to pay by Tuesday so as you can imagine, he is panicking.

simpywimpy

I doubt you are getting the full story here. A financial settlement will have been agreed at some point - he will have been asked to provide info for that to be agreed. You don't get asked to provide 15k by tuesday out of the blue. He has probably failed to respond to previous requests for info/declaration of assets etc. He needs to go back to the court and ask for the order to be possibly set aside or reassessed. If he goes to the county court office, they will tell him what form etc he needs

http://www.nicolawilliams.co.uk/consent-orders/factsheet1-consent-orders.html#what-is-standard-order

shoe*diva79

simpywimpy wrote: »

I doubt you are getting the full story here. A financial settlement will have been agreed at some point - he will have been asked to provide info for that to be agreed. You don't get asked to provide 15k by tuesday out of the blue. He has probably failed to respond to previous requests for info/declaration of assets etc. He needs to go back to the court and ask for the order to be possibly set aside or reassessed. If he goes to the county court office, they will tell him what form etc he needs

http://www.nicolawilliams.co.uk/consent-orders/factsheet1-consent-orders.html#what-is-standard-order

The agreement was that he would give her £15k which was what she asked for in return that she wouldn't touch his pension or another lump sum he would get on leaving the armed forces. Naively (and I have told him this!) he signed the paperwork her lawyer sent without getting a lawyer himself and thought he would just get a loan to cover it. Given there are no martial assets and he is continuing to pay off her loan (in his name) he thought he was getting a good deal.

Pollycat

But there are marital (not martial ) assets.

His pension/lump sum which his wife is entitled to (maybe not 50% depending on when his pension started but entitled to a percentage) is an asset.

He chose to retain those assets.
Now she wants the money it would have been agreed is her share.
It's his own fault that he decided not to get legal advice.
When my friend got divorced, there were lots of to-ing and fro-ing about pension splits (and house/money) until an agreement was reached.

He should not have agreed to pay her this money if he didn't have the cash available to do so.
Your friend should have looked for someone with legal knowledge before agreeing to this.

shoe*diva79

Pollycat wrote: »

But there are marital (not martial ) assets.

His pension/lump sum which his wife is entitled to (maybe not 50% depending on when his pension started but entitled to a percentage) is an asset.

He chose to retain those assets.
Now she wants the money it would have been agreed is her share.
It's his own fault that he decided not to get legal advice.
When my friend got divorced, there were lots of to-ing and fro-ing about pension splits (and house/money) until an agreement was reached.

He should not have agreed to pay her this money if he didn't have the cash available to do so.
Your friend should have looked for someone with legal knowledge before agreeing to this.

He is very aware of that thank you! Ive told him but that advice wont help the situation he is now in.

As suggested by the previous poster he is going to look at having the consent order reassessed or set aside and is visiting the court today to complete the relevant forms. Its not that he dosent want to pay, he just hasnt the means to do so.

Pollycat

shoe*diva79 wrote: »

He is very aware of that thank you! Ive told him but that advice wont help the situation he is now in.

As suggested by the previous poster he is going to look at having the consent order reassessed or set aside and is visiting the court today to complete the relevant forms. Its not that he dosent want to pay, he just hasnt the means to do so.

The advice provided by simpywimpy was before you mentioned the pension & lump sum and said that he

has probably failed to respond to previous requests for info/declaration of assets etc.

Your later post said that he agreed to this £15K.

Thank you!

NotSuchASmugMarriedNow

This is why you have to check documents thoroughly before signing them.

Pollycat

NotSuchASmugMarriedNow wrote: »

This is why you have to check documents thoroughly before signing them.

OP's comment to my post:

shoe*diva79 wrote: »

He is very aware of that thank you! Ive told him but that advice wont help the situation he is now in.

I don't think the OP thinks our comments are helpful. :rotfl:

shoe*diva79

Pollycat wrote: »

OP's comment to my post:


I don't think the OP thinks our comments are helpful. :rotfl:

I dont think YOUR comments were useful.

Pollycat

I'm sorry you didn't think my comments were useful.

They were in part as a response to simpywimpy's comments which were made before you gave additional information.

Maybe if you'd put the information about the pension & lump sum in your first post, advice may have been different as it's clearly not a case of him not responding but more that he's agreed to pay but does not have the money.

I hope your friend sorts it out - but I also hope that his ex-wife gets the money she's entitled to.

shoe*diva79

Pollycat wrote: »

I'm sorry you didn't think my comments were useful.

They were in part as a response to simpywimpy's comments which were made before you gave additional information.

Maybe if you'd put the information about the pension & lump sum in your first post, advice may have been different as it's clearly not a case of him not responding but more that he's agreed to pay but does not have the money.

I hope your friend sorts it out - but I also hope that his ex-wife gets the money she's entitled to.

He is very happy to pay her the £15k, he just hasn't funds to do so. And certainly not by tomorrow which is what the letter he received on Thursday says he has to do. She is aware of this as well. The pension and lump sum don't really come into the equation as she already said she does not want any of it, she just wants £15k now.

At the end of the day, if he physically does not have the funds to give her then what can he do, or a judge do? He can pay her a monthly sum until the £15k is reached but can that be agreed between them?

He is just awaiting a call back from a solicitor to find out the name of the form he needs to have the order either set aside or reassessed so Im sure it will all get sorted out.