Financial Procedure Chart

Financial Disclosure

• There should be full and frank financial disclosure with documents in support and often completed the style of Form E

Procedure

For cases that proceed to Court there are commonly 3 types of hearing

• First Directions Hearing (FDA)
• Financial Dispute Resolution (FDR)
• Financial hearing

At any stage an agreement can be reached and a Consent Order prepared to record the terms of settlement. The timescale is commonly 6 to 12 months (and on occasions 18 months)

Issues

The parties or a Court may need to consider the following:

• The need for any valuation evidence (e.g. for a property, business and so on)
• The need for any additional expert evidence (e.g. pensions, business valuations, tax and so on)
• Any outstanding issues of financial disclosure

Divorce papers are completed

• Filing of the divorce papers at Court
• The Divorce Petition and the supporting payments are filed at Court and the present fee is £550

Factors that are taken into account

• The first consideration is given to the welfare of any minor child
• Income, earning capacity, property and other financial resources
• The financial needs, obligations and responsibilities
• The standard of living
• The age of each party and the duration of marriage
• Any physical or mental disability
• The contributions of the parties and any relevant conduct

Financial Orders

When weighing up the relevant factors, the Court can award a financial settlement based on:

• A lump sum of money
• An Order for sale of a property or transferring rights in it
• Maintenance
• Pensions
• There is no presumption of a 50/50 division and each case needs to be looked at on its own facts.