Ignoring form E direction

[Dirge]

Hi all,
I have a first hearing for financial resolution coming up soon. The court issued a direction, setting a date for exchange of form E, financial disclosure. My ex
has ignored this date and claims not to be in a position to exchange yet. All along she has been dragging out the process.
Are there any consequences to not complying with a court direction? Will it count against my ex in any way as and when we get to court?

 

[Resolute]

I have done form E1 recently - the equivalent disclosure for cohabitees. My order did not require service on the same date as filing. It required contact with the other side by the filing deadline to agree date of exchange. This order was made as default response to application, rather than as result of a hearing.

If you have filed with the court but not yet served on your ex. I suggest you have a close read of how your order is worded. Mine was satisfied by making contact in attempt to agree date of exchange. Tbh, I missed this nuance until the last minute.

Following Form E date, there are probably further dates for questionnaire (Q) etc. If your ex has your Form E with required documentation before you get her's. She will have more time to look over your docs and compose her Q than you get with her's to compose your's.

I did the Form E1 by 'simultaneous exchange' a few days after the deadline. My Q and further disclosure was filed with the court yesterday. At midday I asked other side to confirm they were ready to exchange at 4pm, they declined with flimsy excuses. I told them I was ready, but would wait until they confirm readiness for simultaneous exchange. At the same time, I told them I'd be extending the deadline for responses to Q's accordingly.

If she already has your Form E. I suggest writing to reinforce her deadline to get Q to you and to inform her that your Q etc will be delayed as a result of her serving Form E late.

I believe deadline for Q should be 14 days after deadline for Form E.

 

[Dirge]

Thanks for the reply Resolute. It sounds like the only consequences will be in my ex's favour - I get less time to study her financial details and compose my questions to her; She delays the process further. No incentive for her to co operate at all.

 

[Resolute]

I am not an authority on this stuff. My own experience is my only guide and I am just a slight step ahead of you in the process.

Do you have further deadlines before your first hearing?

 

[Dirge]

I have to submit a property valuation 14 days before court date.

 

[Jumper85]

Hi @Dirge how did you get on with this? I’m in the same position, supposed to have exchanged earlier this week, pushed my ex to exchange and received blasé response of “just send it over” without any confirmation she’s ready to exchange or agreement on how/when. I’ve now sent her my solicitors details but they’ve heard nothing from here.

Where are you in the process now?

 

[Dirge]

Hi @jumpers85; my stbx finally submitted her form E a couple of days before the hearing date. As Resolute says, it was done after the other party's solicitor confirmed they were ready for exchange, and exchange was simultaneous. I suggest you push for the same, but if she is a litigant in person, then it might be difficult to pin her to simultaneous exchange. That was the situation I thought I was facing, but late in the process stbx provided contact details for her solicitor. Both me and my solicitor were convinced she didn't actually have a solicitor - delaying tactics on her part. There was no mention of her late submission made in court and as far as I could see there were no consequences at all for her. My solicitor thinks I might be able to put in an application for costs against her, but that is only because she withheld her solicitor's contact details until the last minute.
I have been given a date for next hearing - over three months from first court hearing. We were given 2 weeks to submit questionnaires and 3 weeks to respond, but I haven't even seen her questionnaire yet and first hearing was more than 5 weeks ago.
Good luck mate.

 

[Jumper85]

Hi @jumpers85; my stbx finally submitted her form E a couple of days before the hearing date. As Resolute says, it was done after the other party's solicitor confirmed they were ready for exchange, and exchange was simultaneous. I suggest you push for the same, but if she is a litigant in person, then it might be difficult to pin her to simultaneous exchange. That was the situation I thought I was facing, but late in the process stbx provided contact details for her solicitor. Both me and my solicitor were convinced she didn't actually have a solicitor - delaying tactics on her part. There was no mention of her late submission made in court and as far as I could see there were no consequences at all for her. My solicitor thinks I might be able to put in an application for costs against her, but that is only because she withheld her solicitor's contact details until the last minute.
I have been given a date for next hearing - over three months from first court hearing. We were given 2 weeks to submit questionnaires and 3 weeks to respond, but I haven't even seen her questionnaire yet and first hearing was more than 5 weeks ago.
Good luck mate.

Thanks @Dirge, good luck with yours too. You’re a couple of months ahead of me so it will be of great help to hear how you get on.

So I’m summary it sounds like the courts don’t really care about things being submitted late but despite that the first hearing went ahead and you’ve now got another hearing in 3 months so in theory, is she actually delaying things? Sounds not. More just causing an inconvenience.

I’ve tried speaking with the ex about house valuations and going together to see a mortgage broker to get borrowing capacities done but she just won’t work together on anything. How did you get on with things like this?

 

[Dirge]

"I’ve tried speaking with the ex about house valuations and going together to see a mortgage broker to get borrowing capacities done but she just won’t work together on anything. How did you get on with things like this?"
No co operation from my stbx what so ever. I did everything independently, had evidence to back up everything I stated. She submitted figures that varied from mine, with no evidence to support them - court ordered an independent property valuation expert.
Stbx has delayed proceedings, since my solicitor was treating her as a litigant in person, and giving her more generous time frames to respond. Apparently solicitors are bound by a more prescribed time frame.