My spouse will not co-operate with the financial side of the divorce? What can I do?

In normal circumstances the parties to a divorce have the opportunity to come to a decision on the financial side between themselves (and just instruct their solicitors to make that agreement formal and legally binding) or they can reach agreement through mediation or through the voluntary exchange of financial information and subsequent negotiations. When this happens the parties do not have to attend court at all. The court simply reviews the papers they have submitted and (providing the court is satisfied that the agreement is reasonable) approves them. 

It can be incredibly frustrating if your spouse will not engage with the process. It leaves you with no choice, but to issue financial remedy court proceedings. The court would then set the timetable for the exchange of financial information. Most people do obtain legal advice and start co-operating at this point. If your spouse was one of the minority that ignore court orders then you would apply to the court to have a penal notice attached to the court directions. This would warn them that if they didn’t comply with the order they could be held in contempt of court and imprisoned or fined or have their assets seized. 

While in normal circumstances you would each be expected to meet your own legal costs you could potentially recover from your spouse any costs that you had incurred as a result of his or her conduct in ignoring the proceedings and thus increasing your costs as a result. 

While there is no question that if your spouse doesn’t co-operate this will increase the time it takes to deal with the financial side and the associated costs he or she cannot hide their head in the sand indefinitely. 

George Green’s Specialist family and Divorce lawyers give advice regularly on divorce and the financial aspects of divorce. If you wish to discuss your matter please Jane Williams on 01384 340 528 (jwilliams@georgegreen.co.uk at our Cradley Heath office. We represent clients from the West Midlands and beyond including Dudley, Stourbridge, Cradley Heath and Wolverhampton.