Everything you need to know about the role of Form E in the divorce process.
What is a Form E?
When a couple who are married, or in a civil partnership separate, the starting point to resolving the financial side of the divorce is disclosure. The Form E is a court form that can be used by separating couples to provide financial disclosure to each other as part of their divorce.
Financial information on divorce
There is a duty on a separated couple going through a divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership to provide full and frank financial disclosure to each other. Completing a Form E is a way of a couple demonstrating to each other that they have complied with this duty. It also helps family lawyers to advise their clients as to what an appropriate financial settlement might be.
Disclosure is providing each other with full details of your financial circumstances including your assets (properties, businesses, investments), pension, debts and income.
In relation to pensions, it is important for full details of a pension to be disclosed including the transfer value, known as a CETV. The value of a pension is very important whether you are considering sharing pensions with your other half following divorce, known as pension sharing; or whether you are looking to transfer an asset to a person instead of a pension share known as offsetting.
Failure to provide financial disclosure
If a court has ordered you to complete a Form E or provide other financial documents there can be serious consequences if you fail to provide this information. If you do not comply with a court order this can be treated as contempt of court which is a criminal offence. Similarly, providing misleading or incorrect disclosure on a document such as a Form E may be treated as fraud. The court also has the power to make a costs order which means you may be ordered to pay some of your spouse’s legal fees if you do not comply with a court order. Therefore, providing full and accurate disclosure in court proceedings is very important.
If financial remedy proceedings have not been issued, you are under no obligation to provide disclosure. However, a failure to provide financial disclosure voluntarily may lead to your spouse taking steps to issue proceedings so co-operation is always advisable.
The court can draw inferences from a failure to provide financial disclosure and, in some cases, this may result in a less favourable outcome for you.
Is a Form E compulsory in divorce?
You may be ordered by the court to complete a Form if court proceedings known as financial remedy proceedings have been issued. However, the form is also frequently used where a couple are negotiating outside the court process.
What documents do you need for a Form E?
The Form E helpfully provides a list of what documents are required to evidence the figures given in the Form E. Therefore, the documents you need to provide will depend on your financial circumstances. Typically, this includes, but is not limited to:
- Property valuations.
- Mortgage statements.
- Bank statement for the previous 12 months.
- Statements showing investments/ premium bond holdings/ share holdings.
- Life insurance documentation.
- Pension valuations.
- Wage slips for the past three months as well as P60s.
- Company accounts if you are a business owner.
How to complete a Form E
The Form E is a lengthy document, and not every page may be relevant to each person. The way in which a Form E is completed can have an impact on the financial settlement you may receive as part of your divorce. It is therefore sensible to take specialist family law advice from a family lawyer as to how best to complete the form to reflect your financial circumstances.
