Divorce lump sum not paid

destress

Hi. I would be so grateful for any advice. I was awarded a lump sum in Dec 23 by the courts and a Pension Sharing Order. Lump sum was to be paid 56 days after PSO implementation which should have been in June this year, if the court order timelines had been adhered to. I paid my pso fees in February. My ex didn't pay his half of the pso fees until August. I wrote many emails to the pension people who gave various reasons for the delay such as they were trying to find his fee payment on their system. Also saying delays because of the McCloud judgement. They eventually said there'd been some confusion as they thought his fees were paid in April but then they later found out that the fees were paid in August. They implemented the pso then in August which meant the lump sum should have been paid mid October but it still hasn't been paid by my ex. I have been asking my solicitor what I can do but I'm not getting very far as they don't always reply and still haven't told me what I do. I asked what form to fill in for court if that's what I need to do and if I fill it in or if the solicitors do. My ex has breached the court order twice I think as it took him 7 months to pay the PSO fees and has still not sent my lump sum. Im worried that my ex will just move somewhere without paying me. I've struggling financially and it costs each time I email the solicitors. Please could anyone tell me what I can do? Many thanks

tacpot12

I think it might be time to tell your solicitor that they are on a No-win/No-fee billing scheme now! Now, you can't unilaterally change the billing arrangements you have agreed with them, but acting like you can might get their attention!

I would give them 5 days to come up with a plan of action, otherwise you will take the debt recovery work to someone else - they may be hoping you do this anyway. Either way, you need to be paying for results, not being ignored.

This link might help confirm that this is just a debt and can be recovered in the same way as any other: https://www.brookman.co.uk/divorce/ex-does-not-pay-after-divorce

destress

tacpot12 said:

I think it might be time to tell your solicitor that they are on a No-win/No-fee billing scheme now! Now, you can't unilaterally change the billing arrangements you have agreed with them, but acting like you can might get their attention!

I would give them 5 days to come up with a plan of action, otherwise you will take the debt recovery work to someone else - they may be hoping you do this anyway. Either way, you need to be paying for results, not being ignored.

This link might help confirm that this is just a debt and can be recovered in the same way as any other: https://www.brookman.co.uk/divorce/ex-does-not-pay-after-divorce

Thank you. I did contact another solicitor regarding this but they said it would be 300 for the initial appointment then they'd need the whole file from my solicitors. I'm guessing i,d have to pay the outstanding to my original solicitor to get my file which I think is a few thousand which I don't have. I just want to know what I can do to get my lump sum. My ex has breached the court order but nothing has happened to him and I don't know how to enforce the court order 

Marcon

destress said:

Hi. I would be so grateful for any advice. I was awarded a lump sum in Dec 23 by the courts and a Pension Sharing Order. Lump sum was to be paid 56 days after PSO implementation which should have been in June this year, if the court order timelines had been adhered to. I paid my pso fees in February. My ex didn't pay his half of the pso fees until August. I wrote many emails to the pension people who gave various reasons for the delay such as they were trying to find his fee payment on their system. Also saying delays because of the McCloud judgement. They eventually said there'd been some confusion as they thought his fees were paid in April but then they later found out that the fees were paid in August. They implemented the pso then in August which meant the lump sum should have been paid mid October but it still hasn't been paid by my ex. I have been asking my solicitor what I can do but I'm not getting very far as they don't always reply and still haven't told me what I do. I asked what form to fill in for court if that's what I need to do and if I fill it in or if the solicitors do. My ex has breached the court order twice I think as it took him 7 months to pay the PSO fees and has still not sent my lump sum. Im worried that my ex will just move somewhere without paying me. I've struggling financially and it costs each time I email the solicitors. Please could anyone tell me what I can do? Many thanks

Time for a formal complaint. Details will be on the website for the firm for which your solicitor works, or you can simply ring and ask for details.

LHW99

Pensionwise suggests there can be up to a four month timescale from the sceme receiving all the documents from Court (and presumably payment)

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/family-and-care/divorce-and-separation/pension-sharing (see Timelines)

That could mean December / January, depending when in August he paid.

destress

LHW99 said:

Pensionwise suggests there can be up to a four month timescale from the sceme receiving all the documents from Court (and presumably payment)

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/family-and-care/divorce-and-separation/pension-sharing (see Timelines)

That could mean December / January, depending when in August he paid.

Thank you. The pension implementation fees were to be paid by myself and former spouse. I paid mine as soon as asked in February so expected the four months deadline to be in June. Upon enquiring though there were problems and they couldn't find his payment. After months of emailing back and forth the pension people said there had been some confusion and his fee wasn't paid until August which in itself was a breach of the court order I think. They implemented it by the end of August due to all the messing about maybe. The lump sum from my ex for my share of the house was then due 56 days after this implementation so the deadline was 18th October. I'm still waiting so I wondered what I do to enforce the court order which has been breached. Would it just be a form and which one. I have tried googling and finding it confusing. I have no funds to go back to court so I wondered if anyone has experienced this. What are the options. My solicitor is now on holiday for two weeks and I suppose I'm just panicking that my ex will just move away and not pay the lump sum

Cobbler_tone

I've been through the divorce process myself but held my pension VERY tightly. There is no way I would have breached the court order on the payment schedule but a safe assumption that your solicitor is your only real path. I am assuming they are already very familiar with your case and will have it to hand. It may be that you have to raise the costs to pursue it. It will certainly be a lot quicker (and probably more cost effective) than trying to start with fresh legal representation. 
I'd personally be interrogating the pension company first before trying to chase him via solicitors and the courts. If it is sharing order shouldn't it be coming directly to you...as opposed to all to your ex who has to send you half? That's how it reads. 

xylophone

Do you mean that the financial settlement awarded you  a share of your ex husband's pension as well as a share of the proceeds of sale of the marital home/some other property owned by your ex husband( the "lump sum")?

Or that he kept the home but had to finance a lump sum from elsewhere ( from his own pension)?

destress

Cobbler_tone said:

I've been through the divorce process myself but held my pension VERY tightly. There is no way I would have breached the court order on the payment schedule but a safe assumption that your solicitor is your only real path. I am assuming they are already very familiar with your case and will have it to hand. It may be that you have to raise the costs to pursue it. It will certainly be a lot quicker (and probably more cost effective) than trying to start with fresh legal representation. 
I'd personally be interrogating the pension company first before trying to chase him via solicitors and the courts. If it is sharing order shouldn't it be coming directly to you...as opposed to all to your ex who has to send you half? That's how it reads. 

Thank you. And my apologies I haven't explained it properly. I was awarded 25% of his pension. That took 7 months to sort as he didn't pay his half of the pso fees until August. With his pension he was getting a large lump sum also and my barrister in court told me that's what he was going to pay my lump sum with for my share of the house. The pso was implemented towards the end of August and from then he had 56 days to send my lump sum to me. The pension is sorted now. Just no sign of the lump sum from my ex which would go to my solicitor first. My solicitor has tried prompting payment via his solicitor but no success. I'm thinking he has no intention of paying. He would have paid by now to avoid the high court interest which he is apparently incurring. But if nothing happens to enforce the court order he won't be bothered. It seems  a daft system with hindsight that you just have to trust that someone will pay up.

destress

xylophone said:

Do you mean that the financial settlement awarded you  a share of your ex husband's pension as well as a share of the proceeds of sale of the marital home/some other property owned by your ex husband( the "lump sum")?

Or that he kept the home but had to finance a lump sum from elsewhere ( from his own pension)?

I haven't explained it properly I'm sorry. I was awarded a lump sum as well as 25% of his pension. The lump sum was my share of the matrimonial home and he was going to fund that from his pension when the pension sharing order was implemented as he was due to be getting a large lump sum from his pension. 

xylophone

My solicitor has tried prompting payment via his solicitor but no success. 

Then he had better try prompting a bit harder?

You paid him to do a job which he hasn't yet completed?