Can she come back for more !!!

Hi,not sure if i have posted this in the right section. I had Clean Break Consent Order issued in July 2007 as follows,
Ex wife - FMH (approx £275,000 with no mortgage plus lump sum of £27,500)
I kept the business and assets (approx £200,000) of which i used to purchase a house (with mortgage) and a loan to my new company, which i had to start up due to the fact the bank froze all the bank accounts and was unable to trade due to the ex wifes non co-operation (50/50 shareholders)
I have now decided to sell this new business and after advice it has been put on the market for quite a considerable amount (£000,000).
We both had Legal Representation throughout AR and Barristers at the Final Hearing. At anytime during AR, her legal team could have asked for an approx valuation of the business, but failed to do so and i never tried to conceal the fact that it would have a sale value. The Judge agreed that the business could only be valued on it assets at the time, hence the Consent Order.
Can anyone tell me if this Consent Order could be overturned or is it Final.
She remarried 6 months after getting divorced, if that makes any difference.

Thankyou
Male 46

Hi,

The financial settlement is ­base­d on assets at the time of divorce.

You would need legal advice on this to be certain but I am pretty sure that if the new business was started up post divorce then any assets accrued will be yours alone.

Hadenoughnow

Thanks for your reply.
The new business was set up in November 2006,
and we were divorced in April 2007
We separated in June 2006, although i remained in the FMH until December 2006.

Male 46

Hmmm. Presumably the new business - as well as the old one - was fully declared to the court at the time?

Presumably also as a new startup it would have had very little in the way of assets at that stage.. and the loan you used to support it was covered in the assets.

She has a new marriage - and had a very sizeable chunk of the assets - did she declare her intention to remarry during the proceedings? My instinct would be to say that you have done very well in the past 2-3 years to build something worth a few bob .. so good luck to you.

However if such a large sum is involved, I would definitely get a legal opinion to be on the safe side.

Presumably if you have children you would make sure they benefit in some way from your good fortune? Perhaps that may head her off at the pass??

Hadenoughnow

I can't see how this order could be appealed.

There was a pice of case law recently where a business man tried to appeal an order which was made before the recession. To cut a long story short he had to pay a lump sum (about £11M I recall) which was intended to be funded from assets which were now worth nothing. The court said that he dealt in high risk investments and knew that markets go up and down therefore the order was made in good faith and was valid.

You situation is the opposite - you took all the risk and it has now paid off. Had the business failed, you could not have appealed in accordance with the findings of the court of appeal mentioned above. Your wife should not now be able to go back for another slice of the pie.

If your wife's solicitors failed to obtain the appropriate information from you e.g. value of business if sold, that may be a case of negligence on their part.

At the time of the proceedings, were you asked if you intended to sell the business? I would guess not as it sounds as though it would not be saleable. I would also guess that you could not have foreseen an upturn in business from July 2007 to date in which case you were not hiding anything.

It all sounds above board to me but as ever, it is worth seeking a legal opinion before you make any commitments.

Charles

Hi, Thankyou for your replies,
Both business's were fully declared, the new business is technically the old business, all but in name. I had to start a new business as all bank accounts were frozen by the bank and i would have been unable to trade. At the start the new business had no assets, All stock/debtors etc,were bought off the old company with aid from a personal loan from myself,(all above board) which has now been repaid to myself.
Form E stated that she intended to remarry within a year of divorce, engaged 2 weeks after we divorced, but denighed this at FH.
I have 2 sons and yes they will benefit from the sale (re unniversity costs etc).
(read previous posts)
At the time of proceedings i was not asked, nor was it my intention to sell, but it could have been saleable at the time. The business has not had a upturn in sales,they have declined since 2007, it has always been a very profitable business (one man band with very low overheads)even with reduced sales.

Thanks once again for your replies and i will now seek legal advice.

Male 46

If the business was profitable at the time and is now less so, there really is no prospect of having another bite of the cherry. If you sell the business the money will be yours in the same way as your ex winning the lottery - you wouldn't be entitled to a share.

I suspect you are being overly cautious but better that than take action and find you are in hot water!

Charles