It’s just my personal opinion but I find that solicitors can be an unnecessary cost. Seek legal advice from them, no problem but don’t use them as an administrative function, ie to do your paperwork, the costs can be staggering!!
The form E is a good example, only you know your finances and you are best placed to complete it. I sought legal advice on the strategy I was adopting for financial proceedings but nothing else beyond that.
As for your timeline;
- I’d do the Form E yourself and just propose with your ex or their representative a date to complete financial disclose and swap all documents.
- Review and read their Form E and raise a Questionnaire. Anything you know that’s not been disclosed, raise it here. Question anything around income, money in accounts, pensions, mortgage borrowing capacity too
- Dependable on your approach, why wait to open a financial remedy proceedings case? If you genuinely think you can mutually agree and settle without court involvement then great, any doubts and I’d start formal proceedings. This does not stop you from reaching a settlement outside of court or through mediation
- ES1 and ES2 are the other documents you need for court. As well as mortgage borrowing capacity reports and pension values
- All documents should be shared with both the other party (your ex/ex’s solicitor) and the court
- Agree with Unknown, you don’t need a Barrister for FDA. I’d equally gauge whether you need one for FDR. It’s an opportunity to try and reach settlement but I also knew we were never going to settle so it was pointless investing in a Barrister. I took what I could from the hearing and applied the learns for the final hearing where I used a direct barrister
- If you’re going to invest any money in financial proceedings I’d say spend it on representation than rather solicitors
- Educate yourself as much as possible, learn from experience on this forum, research using Google and know your rights
- Court bundles are a ball ache to produce but I did it myself. Wasn’t prepared to spend thousands on a solicitor to pull a few papers together
The form E is a good example, only you know your finances and you are best placed to complete it. I sought legal advice on the strategy I was adopting for financial proceedings but nothing else beyond that.
As for your timeline;
- I’d do the Form E yourself and just propose with your ex or their representative a date to complete financial disclose and swap all documents.
- Review and read their Form E and raise a Questionnaire. Anything you know that’s not been disclosed, raise it here. Question anything around income, money in accounts, pensions, mortgage borrowing capacity too
- Dependable on your approach, why wait to open a financial remedy proceedings case? If you genuinely think you can mutually agree and settle without court involvement then great, any doubts and I’d start formal proceedings. This does not stop you from reaching a settlement outside of court or through mediation
- ES1 and ES2 are the other documents you need for court. As well as mortgage borrowing capacity reports and pension values
- All documents should be shared with both the other party (your ex/ex’s solicitor) and the court
- Agree with Unknown, you don’t need a Barrister for FDA. I’d equally gauge whether you need one for FDR. It’s an opportunity to try and reach settlement but I also knew we were never going to settle so it was pointless investing in a Barrister. I took what I could from the hearing and applied the learns for the final hearing where I used a direct barrister
- If you’re going to invest any money in financial proceedings I’d say spend it on representation than rather solicitors
- Educate yourself as much as possible, learn from experience on this forum, research using Google and know your rights
- Court bundles are a ball ache to produce but I did it myself. Wasn’t prepared to spend thousands on a solicitor to pull a few papers together