Divorce & Ancillary Relief

AuntyJean

Need some urgent advice before seeing a solicitor.

My new partner and his wife are in the proceeds of going through divorce.

She had been seeing other men over some years but he stayed (sleeping on sofa, getting his own meals) and paid all the bills working 6 or 7 days a week to keep out of the house.

8 months ago he met me and we eventually got a flat together. She admitted she wanted a divorce as she had met someone but asked if she could divorce him on grounds of adultery to which he agreed.

She is still living in the house with a very large mortgage on it. They went to a mediator and she stated she wanted to take on the mortgage and would have no other claim on him. He agreed to keep up the mortgage payments and booked an appointment for all this to be put in writing.

She then found she could not get a mortgage as she only worked part time (about 20 hrs a week) so he did not bother to get any papers signed

Now she is divorcing him (with legal aid) and he has had the Notice of Proceedings. There is a form to fill in but attached to the Petition is a Prayer which states "That the Petitioner may be granted the following ancillary relief:-

(i) an order for maintenance pending suit )
(ii) a periodical payments order ) for herself
(iii) a secured provision order )
(iv) a lump sum order )

....
viii) a property adjustment order
ix) a pension sharing order

He has said that he does not feel he should have to pay her maintenance as she is fully capable of working full time but chooses not to and he is adamant that he does not want her having any share of his private pension.

He is quite happy for her to have any balance due when the property is sold but she is refusing to allow the house to go on the market.

He has 7 days to 'complete and detach' the acknowledgement of service. However, he can only see a solicitor on a Friday when he finishes work early. (Holidays are fixed by the company and time off outside those days allocated means he would lost £150 for each day).
Q1. Can his wife force him to maintain her just because she does not want to work - and does not marry her boyfriend
Q2. Can she also force him to give her a share of his pension

His daughter is 18 in 4 weeks and we are both ensuring her safety and supporting her financially - she is working and if necessary will come and live with us when we move out of the one bedroomed flat where we are currently living.

All he wants is to start a new life with no ties to his ex. He is worried that if he completes, signs and returns the form he will not he able to contest any arrangements later.

Any advice would be welcome.

Debt_Free_Chick

Q1. Can his wife force him to maintain her just because she does not want to work - and does not marry her boyfriend

No. The financial settlement aims for a "clean break" usually with no maintenance, unless there are children (and then, maintenance is for the children, not the ex-spouse).

If she is capable of working full-time, this will be taken into account.

Q2. Can she also force him to give her a share of his pension

The starting point for all assets is to split them 50/50 and "assets" will include his pension. But he could offer her other assets and leave the pension intact e.g. if his pension is worth £50k he could offer her an extra £25k from the equity in the property, instead.

But the value of his pension will be included in the total of the marital assets.

AuntyJean

Thanks for advice but what does 'a periodical payments order ) for herself' mean?

Debt_Free_Chick

Another kind of maintenance

hannahsmummy1

When hubby got divorced from his ex, she did not get anything of his pensions. I think because he ended up giving her more than what she was entitled to when they sold the house (ie he gave her more than half of what the proceeds from selling their house were).

margaretclare

Hello

I don't know whether what you quote is a standard kind of starting-point, i.e. the lump sum, the periodic payments etc, but this is what my DH was presented with after he moved in with me. He resisted the lot. It was down to negotiation between the 2 solicitors, made more difficult and long-drawn-out by the fictitious stories she came up with from time to time e.g. he had been seen driving past her door 170 miles away in a red Jaguar to 'harass' her...obvious inference, if he had a red Jaguar and not a rusty old white Ford, it meant that he had some funds squirrelled away maybe offshore or in a Swiss bank! What a solicitor described to me as the 'pot of gold' syndrome, very common. Given that DH arrived on my doorstep practically like a refugee, it would have been laughable if it hadn't been so threatening. Nor had he ever been near her - the 'harassment' charge was without foundation.

DH stuck to his guns - he wanted a clean break, nothing more, nothing less. The 'periodic payments' bit was in fact quite threatening because it meant that any time DH got any more money at all from whatever source, even retirement pension, she could have gone back and claimed an increase in her monthly payments that he was ordered to make. She even fought him for his annuity which has no widow's benefit built into it. In the end he had to give her the equity in the matrimonial home but she also had the pleasure of paying the mortgage, which she wanted to unload on to him.

It makes my blood boil to remember it, but it's important to remember - stick to your guns and don't give away anything that you may regret.

HTH

AuntyJean

margaretclare wrote: »

It was down to negotiation between the 2 solicitors, made more difficult and long-drawn-out HTH

If you don't mind my asking, what sort of cost could we expect, bearing in mind that this is likely to be quite drawn out and she has legal aid?

purplesmiler82

AuntyJean

My partner is also in the process of going throug a divorce. With his soon to be ex petitioning for adultry....... Its been going on nearly 18 months now because she is so awkward!

His wife got legal aid to start with as she only worked 2 days a week at the time but works more now..... It sounds very similar to your situation in that she is just lazy and does not want to work! She has now had it stopped though

we are currently arguing proposals but it seems to be taking ages, so nothing is still agreed

Petition is a Prayer which states "That the Petitioner may be granted the following ancillary relief:-

(i) an order for maintenance pending suit )
(ii) a periodical payments order ) for herself
(iii) a secured provision order )
(iv) a lump sum order )

....
viii) a property adjustment order
ix) a pension sharing order

I think this is just standard as it reads the same as my partners did. It is then up to the solicitors to put forward proposals.....

His partner has gone back on everything that was agreed at mediation and origionnally said she wanted all the house, half his pension and maintenance!!!!

But so far our solicitor has proved there is no reason she cannot work full time as she did in the run up to Xmas, she could sell that property as she wouldnt need such a big house and live mortgage free, and that with the child support payments etc she would actually end up taking home more than him!!!

In terms of solicitors bills..... think its cost him about 3-4K so far......... think it depends on how awkward your OH is going to be!!!

Its good to find someone who is in a very similar situation

Good Luck

AuntyJean

Thanks to everyone for replies,

Yes purplesmiler82 it does seem as though you and I are in the same boat albeit you are ahead of me!

I thought that you could get divorced and negotiate settlements later?

My ex husband divorced me and it was very straight forward with no need for me to involve any solicitor. I don't recall seeing any such 'Prayer' with our divorce papers.