DIY Divorce Disasters
We have helped many divorcees untangle their DIY divorce disasters. Here are two ongoing divorce cases that show that a DIY divorce might cost you much more in the long run.
Case Study - Mr & Mrs Smith
Client Situation
When Mr and Mrs Smith decided to end their marriage 11 years ago, they were both quite happy to co-operate through the divorce.
On a sheet of paper, they drew up a written agreement. The agreement dealt with what was going to happen to the family home, debt payments, and how they were going to divide their assets. They both signed this agreement, thinking it would be binding.
But Mr Smith never quite got round to transferring the family home into his sole name as he had agreed to with Mrs Smith years ago. He found himself with an interest only mortgage coming up to be redeemed, which means that Mr Smith would have to pay a lump sum of money to end his mortgage term.
Sadly, Mrs Smith had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s and was now in a care home. Her finances were being dealt with by a Court appointed Deputy, who was trying to maximise the value of Mrs Smith’s Estate (all of her valuables) and meet her care home fees.
Mrs Smith’s daughter applied for help with care home fees, telling the local authority that her mum had no interest in a property. This turned out to be wrong because the signed agreement wasn’t sufficient enough to be legally binding.
Mr Smith didn’t know what to do when he discovered that the property was still in joint names. The Local Authority knew nothing about this and were putting pressure on Mr Smith to pay the care home fees. Mr Smith was very concerned that the house that he had hoped to leave to his children was in jeopardy.
How We Helped
Mr Smith contacted our Divorce Solicitors and spoke with one of our team, who explained that the many years of experience that we have in dealing with divorce and Court of Protection cases.
We advised Mr Smith that he’d done the right thing by contacting us as only an experienced Solicitor would be able to make sure that Mr Smith could be financially secure and any agreements could be properly dealt with.
With our years of experience, we knew that the Court will only ever look at the assets of the marriage as they are when a divorce application is made and not when Mr and Mrs Smith had made their agreement many years ago.
Because Mrs Smith now has dementia, any application to deal with the house would have to be approved by the Court of Protection. Knowing that this could take months, we submitted an application as soon as possible. The Court of Protection may refer the case on to the Family Court to be dealt with which might unfortunately then delay the issue further and cost Mr Smith even more in legal fees.
How We Could Have Helped
If Mr Smith would have contacted one of our Divorce Solicitors sooner, we could have helped him:
- Get a Fixed Fee Divorce for £600
- Get a Fixed Fee Consent Order for £900 which would have outlined how the house would be divided – for example,. that it would be under Mr Smith’s sole ownership
- Make his divorce agreement legally binding
- Save hundreds of pounds on Court Fees
- Save a lot of time on Court proceedings and ensure that the family home was set to be inherited by his children
Case Study - Mr & Mrs Jones
Client Situation
Mr & Mrs Jones decided they wanted to get divorced but Mrs Jones was very worried that by agreeing to the divorce, she would be left with nowhere to live as the family home was in her husband’s sole name.
Both Mr and Mrs Jones acted on their own behalf in divorce, but Mrs Jones also applied to the Court for a Financial Order.
In this Financial Order, the Court stated that Mrs Jones could stay living in her husband’s house for as long as she needed and that Mr Jones should also pay her maintenance. But immediately after the Order was made in 2011, Mr Jones was offered a job abroad and has not returned to the UK since.
Mrs Jones recently found out that the mortgage of her family home is an interest only mortgage which means that she has to pay a lump sum at the end of its term. Sadly, Mrs Jones can’t afford this and she hadn’t received a penny of the maintenance that the Court had ordered Mr Jones to pay. As such, even though it was years later, she knew that she needed to do something about this.
How We Helped
Mrs Jones contacted our Divorce Solicitors who were happy to help her. She was reassured when our expert team informed her of our extensive experience not only in divorce but also in both financial settlements and in international divorce cases.
After looking further into the case, we soon discovered that Mr Jones had kept his financial circumstances almost entirely hidden. As well as the family home, Mr Jones also owned three other properties and a number of investment vehicles.
Mrs Jones was left feeling very uncertain about her financial position after finding herself living in a house that wasn’t hers and with little money to do anything about it.
As such, we advised Mrs Jones that the only possible course of action would be to go back to the Court to ask the Judge to overturn the earlier Financial Order and force Mr Jones to disclose all of his financial assets. This would allow the Court to make a reasonable and proper Financial Order instead.
However, this is a lengthy and expensive process that unfortunately Mrs Jones couldn’t easily afford. As such, she felt that she was unable to proceed with this course of action at that time.
How We Could Have Helped
If Mrs Jones had gotten legal advice from one of our Divorce Solicitors when her marriage first broke down, we would have been able to:
- Advise her about the importance of full financial disclosure
- Reveal all hidden assets, so Mrs Jones would know exactly what her husband owned
- Divide assets fairly
- Apply for a far more understandable and long lasting Financial Order
- Make sure that the maintenance payments were paid
- Take legal action against Mr Jones if maintenance payments were not paid by him
Get In Touch
These are just a couple of examples that show that money spent on legal advice when your marriage ends could save you much more in the long run. Trying to deal with your financial issues many years down the line will likely cost you much more if an issue arises in the future.
Expert legal advice can help you deal with not only the divorce process but also dissolve any financial ties you have with your former partner. As such, using an expert Divorce Solicitor now could be vital for you.
Here at Simpson Millar, we understand how difficult the divorce process can be and we know that you will likely just want it over and done with as soon as possible. We appreciate the temptation to go through the divorce process alone without any legal representation to try to save on time and costs. However, as shown, this can lead to financial pressures, stress and difficult situations later down the line.
Everyone’s situation is different and there’s not one size that fits all, which is why we recommend getting legal advice from a Divorce Solicitor who can advise you based on your situation.
Whatever your situation is we can help you to find the best way of amicably bringing your relationship to an end while protecting your finances and assets for the rest of your life. Our expert legal advice will always be personal and tailored to you and your family.
We offer a variety of options for appointments including telephone and video calls - whatever suits you best. We’re here to support you and make the process as easy as possible for you. You will be fully supported throughout the divorce process and we will deal with your former partner or their Divorce Solicitor and the Court. This takes the pressure off you, so that you can take care of yourself and your family.
To contact one of our expert Family Law Solicitors, please call our friendly and helpful team today on 0808 239 3465 who will be more than happy to help. Alternatively, you can request a call back
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