Many people who are in dispute about financial settlement have very different ideas about how assets should be divided and about what each party is ‘entitled’ to. In a worst-case scenario this can mean that one person issues court proceedings. You, or your legal representative will then receive notice from the court and if you don’t agree that it is necessary or are worried about the outcome, it can be very tempting to just ignore it.
It is not unusual for solicitors to be contacted by clients very close to a hearing date, after they have ignoring the proceedings for too long, hoping they will go away. Alternatively, sometimes people instruct solicitors part way through a court case, when things have already started to go wrong because they either haven’t had advice as to the best way to approach the process, or the court has already issued sanctions against them.
The court has a range of options open to it if you have not engage in the legal proceedings or have breached a court order.
If you have refused to provide financial disclosure (sharing of information), for example about your property or your assets, the court can order other parties to provide that information.
There can also be costs consequences, which could mean that you could end up paying not only for your own legal (or other) costs, but also the costs of the other party.
In a worst-case scenario, if you repeatedly breach the orders made by the court, the court can impose fines, confiscate your assets or impose a custodial sentence.
It is a common misconception that by providing your financial disclosure and engaging in the court process means that the other party is more likely to be successful in their arguments or claims.
However, a lot of what the court requires in the early stages of the process is actually just gathering information and the court will not make any orders or decisions as to the division of assets until all the relevant information has been provided.
If the court doesn’t have the information, it cannot weigh the arguments ensure that it is making a fair and reasonable decision. In a worst case scenario it may end up making a final order in favour of the party making the application and erring on the side of caution, as was the case in the decision of Young v Young (2013). In this case, the husband repeatedly refused to provide his financial information, was sentenced twice to spend time in prison as a result and the court eventually awarded the wife half of what the court guessed the husband might have in terms of alleged wealth, which was £20 million despite the husband claiming to be bankrupt but providing no evidence of this.
If faced with court proceedings you can put yourself in the best possible situation and more likely to achieve your hoped-for outcome by getting early legal advice and complying with the orders of the court.
To find out more please contact our Family Department on 0114 218 4000 or email info@tayloremmet.co.uk