Here we can give you some helpful scenarios which can assist you with some of the more common questions we are asked. If the answer to your question is not here please do not hesitate to contact us for more help and advice.

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If the answer to your question is not here please do not hesitate to contact us for more help and advice.

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Question:

I am getting divorced as a result of my husband walking out on me and our two children for another woman.

He has a modest income, and I cannot imagine that I am ever going to receive any maintenance for myself from him, although I have applied to the Child Support Agency for child support.

We live in quite a large and valuable house, which we were able to buy because my parents loaned me £150,000 which they now want to be returned to them, as my father has just retired.

My husband says that the money should not be returned to my parents, as he now says that this was a gift and not a loan, even though m y family and I and my husband had a long meeting to discuss the terms of the loan when it was originally made, and in truth my husband knows that it was always considered a loan, even though there was no paperwork attached to it.

What am I to do in the context of the divorce?

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Answer:

Your parents should intervene in your divorce as a matter of urgency, and so when you next go to the court their position should be put to the Judge so that he can make Orders allowing your parents to put their case to the Court before the issues in the divorce are dealt with.

Your parents will have to provide evidence of their position by way of witness statements and you and your husband will also have to give witness statement evidence.

Your husband should be made aware that if he loses this aspect of his divorce he  may well have to pay your parents’ legal costs, as the same costs regime does not apply to interveners as to divorcing couples.

In a case where Nicholas Frances QC, was sitting as a Judge, he suggested that issues such as Third Party interests should be the subject of a Financial Dispute Resolution Appointment, which would enable attempts to be made to settle your parents’ claims without a fully contested Final Hearing relating to this issue alone, and this is something you all might seriously consider with a view to avoiding unnecessary and expensive legal costs.

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Barbara Jordan