What is Financial Disclosure in Divorce?

by Ridley & Hall in Divorce, Family & Matrimonial, Jane Munden posted August 16, 2022.

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If you are going through a divorce and there are issues with regard to property or finances to resolve, you may be requested to provide financial disclosure either by your Solicitor or by your spouse’s Solicitor.

What is meant by Financial Disclosure?

Financial disclosure means, in effect, a full and frank picture of your financial affairs by way of documentary evidence. It would include, for example, last 12 months statements for each Bank/Building Society account that you have and, if you are in employment, your last P60 and your wage slips. If you are self-employed, it would include your business Accounts and copy Tax Returns. It would also include details of other assets as well as debts, for example, if you own a property with a mortgage, a mortgage redemption figure showing how much you owe to the lender would be part of the financial disclosure.

If the Court is being asked to resolve financial matters, all of these documents must also be produced to the Court and each spouse must complete a 27 page form called a Form E summarising their full financial position and attach to it Bank statements, wage slips etc.

If you are dealing with matters outside Court, the information would normally be summarised in a letter rather than a Form E, although practice varies widely on this.

Why is Financial Disclosure important?

It is very important that you have full financial information about your spouse’s financial circumstances, firstly to ensure that you get the best settlement possible, but to ensure that you fully understand what you are receiving and also, to ensure that any joint assets or joint debts are dealt with.

It is very difficult to advise a client on a financial settlement if we do not have the full financial picture. To deal with matters fairly, we need to have access to all relevant information and this applies even where you are trying to negotiate a settlement.

If you need legal help or advice, get in touch with our family team on our free phone 0800 860 62 65.