final hearing

can anybody give an idea what a final hearing like and what it entails and whether or not i am likely to get a court date this year as the FDR was in April do i need a barrister or can i represent myself as i have been a LIP for all the case until now if not what sort of price might i be looking to pay and can i call anybody to give evidence i.e her mother and other member's of her family ? and do you call children of 18 plus to also give evidence so the court can get a better picture of how the relationship was prior to the break up ?

Hi dezpemberton,

I'm no expert, but I can give you my experience of the Final Hearing. Ours was set for a 1 day hearing in court, I think if it's complicated financially it can sometimes go to a 3 day hearing. It was 5 months after the FDR for me, but I guess a lot depends on how busy your local courts are.

It is a court obviously, and it's the first opportunity (because we both had solicitors or barristers for all 3 hearings) that both myself and the ex had to speak personally. Swearing on the bible etc. The legal representatives also spent time before, during and after court trying to make an agreement in cupboards (well tiny rooms). Because at least then the decision in still in your hands, otherwise it's totally down to the judge on the day ( and who knows what he had for breakfast).

I think you have to remember it's primarily about a financial resolution. That's what the judge is interested in. My ex attempted to use it as an opportunity for mudslinging and the judge shut him down. In my experience they are far more interested in what each party needs to move forward rather than why the relationship broke down or who contributed what. So I doubt you'll need witnesses and in the nicest way possible I would definitely avoid involving the children.

I think a lot of people would agree it's better to try to reach a settlement between yourselves if humanly possible (and it wasn't in my case) because you often end up with nobody happy when the judge makes the final decision. And it is supposed to be final. Unless your ex is a cussed git and then wants to renegotiate the day after the hearing costing me an extra £4K but that's a whole other story !!)

Well done for being an LIP, I didn't find this site in time and was committed to a solicitor unfortunately. I think my barrister cost around £3.5k for the day and the whole blooming divorce cost me over £35k and him £30k which considering the pot wasn't huge, was a colossal waste of money. But you can only be reasonable if the other party is willing to engage and be reasonable too.

It's a bruising process but it does end. I wish you good luck.

thankyou soo much looks like it boils down to who has the better barrister on the day and of course what side of bed the judge woke up on, do you think asking for a deferred time of three years till last child is 18 before selling a property is unreasonable?

Honestly I'm not sure the Barristers themselves made much difference. There seemed to be a lot of pointless grandstanding from them but maybe I'm just cynical ! You just need to make sure you have a good argument for future needs and why you feel you are entitled to it.

Our judge at the FDR had a completely different perspective to the judge at the final hearing so to me there is unfortunately an element of pot luck involved. But I do believe he was trying to reach a fair settlement for both of us. Of course no one ends up truly happy with the outcome.

My priority was housing the kids (15 and 18 at the time) and the ex's was hanging on to his huge pension and retaining as much money as he could.

Every case is very different, and it clearly depends on how large the pot is to start with, but from a wife's perspective, I really didn't want a Mesher Order or deferred sale. Because when the trigger point was reached the percentage split of equity wouldn't have been enough to buy another 3 bedroomed property where we live. And even though the children will be at university they still need a home, and these days probably years beyond that ! Financially it would have been advantageous to the ex to receive the equity a few years down the line and I understand that. It's slightly different in my case as the ex has moved 200 miles away with the OW, given up his job to avoid paying child maintenance and doesn't have contact with the children so the onus is totally on me to provide for them. And at the time it felt like a fight to the death and I really struggled with the stress involved.

It's very hard when you are in the midst of this process to see both sides and I'm sure I didn't manage it. I worked out the best and worst case scenario and predictably the end result was somewhere in the middle.

A year on, we are never going to be rich, but we are happy and settled which is the real result.

Hi,
Like you I was Litigant in person until the final hearing. I got a solicitor to help arrange my bundle and come with me to court. It cost about £1500 which was worth paying, just for them to take the stress away. It was agreed and signed before we went in court.
As for your child turning 18 before you get your share of the house, get advice from the solicitor. I made sure my youngest could finish university first before taking my money, but that’s just me.

thanks so much for your insight i have received at date for the final hearing and it looks like the beginning of September; like one of the last members said the quality of barrister does not really make a difference, was that the case in your trial and where did the solicitors fees actually get deducted from ?was it from the pot before division.

Is your ex represented?
We had already split what savings we had (sounds amicable but she took cash out, it was only that she took it from the wrong account and the bank phoned me!!) so it came out of that. We had to pay our own costs. I didn’t use a solicitor as I knew she would run up big bills for me.