Negligent legal advice cost me my home in divorce

Floxxie

OP please head across to Wikivorce - there are solicitors and barristers posting on there.

In essence you have the divorce but no financial settlement i.e. a judge ordered Consent Order. You have an agreement with your ex which was unfair and resulted in an unreasonable division of assets.

You now need to sort out a fair and reasonable division of marital assets and have this agreed by a judge in a Consent Order. What is fair and reasonable will depend on a number of factors which your solicitor will outline to you (Wiki posters will also be able to give you an idea)

Find a solicitor that you get on with and tell him/her this is what you want.

BeingMe

MrsBiggles - I have an older child from a previous relationship but wasn't sure of the relevance to this thread so didn't bother mentioning him.

I can read just fine. Good job I'm headstrong or I might just lie down and let my XH take everything as posters seem to want me to do here.

BeingMe

Thanks Floxxie. I will definitely come over to wikivorce and will register over the weekend.

Guest101

BeingMe wrote: »

MrsBiggles - I have an older child from a previous relationship but wasn't sure of the relevance to this thread so didn't bother mentioning him.

I can read just fine. Good job I'm headstrong or I might just lie down and let my XH take everything as posters seem to want me to do here.

If you look back, I've not once said you should do this.


I've simply suggested you get the correct advice, from a credible source.

BeingMe

Actually it feels like you've argued the toss over every tiny point to somehow prove that I am wrong, negligent, ill informed, naive etc. and ultimately at fault entirely for the position I now find myself in. Excuse me if I take exception to that but I've spent 13 years in a relationship with a man who tried to make out I was all these things and I'm just not taking it anymore when I know it's not the case. I've said several times I've sought additional advice from several sources but according to you they must be wrong.

Guest101

BeingMe wrote: »

Actually it feels like you've argued the toss over every tiny point to somehow prove that I am wrong, negligent, ill informed, naive etc. and ultimately at fault entirely for the position I now find myself in. Excuse me if I take exception to that but I've spent 13 years in a relationship with a man who tried to make out I was all these things and I'm just not taking it anymore when I know it's not the case. I've said several times I've sought additional advice from several sources but according to you they must be wrong.

Sorry you feel that way.


That's not what I wrote, and I cant help how you take things I've written, but that was not the result I was hoping for.


You do come across slightly naïve, but through no fault of your own. Please feel free to disregard anything ive written, I hope you get a fair result.

Valli

BeingMe wrote: »

I recently had to consult a new solicitor because my XH is borderline neglectful with our DC. At this appointment I discovered that the advice I'd been given was incorrect and that I should have registered my interest against the marital property. They are saying I could still pursue a claim but it all hinges on whether the contract I signed will hold any weight.

Is there anything I can do about this now? I basically walked away with nothing despite supporting my XH through joblessness and retraining, gave up my career to raise the DC all the while he was being abusive towards me emotionally mainly but also financially and physically on occasion.

I'm desperate for advice as I've battled with what I always felt was morally unfair but now know to be legally unfair (as far as a court would decide). He is sitting pretty in a large 5 bed and pulls in more income by having lodgers, while I'm cramped into a tiny private rental miles from their school (I do all school runs and majority of child care) and have to rely on housing benefit even though I now work. There is around £160k of equity and I've never pursued him for a penny even though he also owns other property too. Thank you in advance.

from your OP you have been told -
They are saying I could still pursue a claim but it all hinges on whether the contract I signed will hold any weight.

So your next step is to file a claim and test it in court.

In the meantime, write a record of your recollection of the meeting with the original solicitor, recording what was said to the best of your recollection and hence explaining why you made the decision not to seek a fair settlement at the time.

FBaby

I feel really anxious about poking the hornets nest, I'm under no illusion that it will be difficult but it's got to be better than feeling the searing resentment that after everything I did and everything he put me though (and continues to do to me and the children) that I had nothing but emotional scarring to show for it. My contribution was essentially wiped out by the first set of advice.

And unfortunately, it is your resentment that seem to be talking for you, not your rational head. Why are you after 3 years, suddenly so angry. Did you find something out that triggered such an emotive response?

I fear that the anger is not making you see the bigger picture. What do you want to accomplish? You are NOT going to get anywhere trying to pin the blame for what you see as an injustice, so why focus on this? For one, no-one is going to believe you have such an exact recall, to the individual words, or what was said through an emotional conversation 3 years ago. You can complain all you want if you wish but don't expect anything coming out of it because most likely, it will end up on the bin, with the solicitor, if they are still there, saying that he never said things as you claim. I expect at best, he will add a number of 'maybe', 'optional', 'consider', 'potential' etc... to you recollection.

Not true when there's a marriage and children involved. It is an asset of the marriage.

There are so many holes in your approach to it all. On one hand you are going on about how you have a case because of the co-habitation, when told that a 3 year marriage would be considered as a -very- short one, and therefore likely not to be considered in any decision, but then when challenged on your entitlement as a result of cohabitation, you make a point of the marriage.

Unfortunately, as told here, your story doesn't follow much sense. You say that you were abused by your ex, but yet decided to marry him after 12 years together, why?

You say you have a legal background but didn't question for 3 years someone telling you that you had NO options but to leave the property.

You say that the house was your family's, but didn't question your then partner putting it all under his name, nor did anyone in your family?

You go on about being entitled because you cohabited for 12 years, then because you were married, but don't make much mention of what is probably your strongest argument, that the house was your family and therefore was intended to go to you and your children, even if not in your name.

Frankly I am starting to doubt the truthfulness of this thread.

BeingMe

Report me then FBaby, everything I have said is absolutely the truth.

I'm not 'suddenly angry'. I've gone through every emotion possible, but I feel entitled to feel angry because I've only just found out the a professional solicitor advised me negligently which isn't just my opinion.

Who said the conversation with the first solicitor was emotional? I was very calm actually and I have an excellent memory with the ability to recall exact conversations. Actually my profession is probably the reason for this.

The difference in the way I refer to cohabitation vs marriage is because I'm talking about my belief both before and after the recent advice. I probably believe the first solicitor because it was what I was expecting. I also at the time believed only the short marriage counted. It was her job to correct me on this. I did a law degree, trust me it does not teach you squat about what happens in a court room. It teaches you the underlying principles, ie the law and case law.

I can't believe you just asked me why I stayed in an abusive marriage. Go do a bit of research and understand the behaviour of someone who has been abused. I didn't even know it was abuse at the time, I discovered after I left. Edit to add this is called victim blaming and you should also google that.

With respect to the house sale, it's a long and complicated story but the basics were he was financially abusive, my parents were relying on the sale for their nearly completed purchase and my XH was having an affair at the time. I was under pressure from everyone to get the sale to go through so I allowed him to have his own way. The solicitor has advised me that relying on the sale at undervalue is dodgy territory for one reason or another. Actually my best case is because we had a long marriage by virtue of our lengthy cohabitation and the fact that we had children together.

Not sure why you're going to such lengths to pick holes in what I've posted. How can you even be bothered? This is my life and obviously the outcome really matters to me. <shrug>

Tigsteroonie

FBaby wrote: »

You are NOT going to get anywhere trying to pin the blame for what you see as an injustice, so why focus on this?

I do agree with this. Whilst it is annoying, I believe that effort and focus should be directed on resolving things now rather than castigating somebody for a mistake in the past.

FBaby wrote: »

You say that the house was your family's, but didn't question your then partner putting it all under his name, nor did anyone in your family?

Just a thought on this - could a particular ethnic or religious background make this more "the norm", that such ownership traditionally sits with the male of the family?

eta. Above written before I saw OP's reply.