After the most unfair FDR I apealed out of time the whole of the judgement made by a District Judge in court before a Circuit Judge, it was refused. can I go further or is this the last chance of apeal. I am 58 I was married for 34 years my ex wife ended up with over 80% of our worth including my pension which was in a property and £1,000 per month for life. I earn £15,000 per year gross but the judge stated in the judgement I am capable of earning more.

Not sure of the answer re: appeal. Was wondering what the 'pot' assets were??? Because obviously £15k a year - does not cover for £1,000 a month for spousal support; which would seem very unfair.

If you earned £15k a year; but had a massive property empire; this could explain why this may have been split this way.

Do you think you would fair any better on appeal? Could you afford the Costs; especially if a Cost Order went against you - for her fees?

This really goes beyond my scope of experience. Whether a judgement is unfair depends on the overall circumstances. Where the lower court refuses an application for permission to appeal, a further application for permission to appeal may be made to the higher courts under the Civil Proceeding Rules I believe. However, just not agreeing with a judgement isn't grounds for appeal, you need to be able to show that either;

(a) New, important and relevant evidence has come to light which wasn't known of before and which would change the ruling or;

(b) The judge has made an error of law or;

(c) The judge has exercised his discretion unreasonably or otherwise given a "perverse" judgement

There is a right way going about things and it's a good idea to take legal advice regarding appeals. Appeals are an expensive business and even if you represent yourself you may be ordered to pay the other side's costs. When there was evidence that assets weren't properly disclosed in the original proceedings "adverse inference" may be made and leave to appeal refused.

hi paul,
welcome to wiki.
I thought that if you cannot agree a settlement at FDR you go to Final hearing then the judge decides.THe settlement seems grossly unfair to me.Please keep us inform of any development.
good luck

Without detail it's difficult to determine what's going on. When an application is straightforward or where the extra hearing will make the burden of costs disproportionate the FDR might be skipped and progress to FH.

Also some litigants in person don't realise when an agreement has been reached verbally at the FDR and acknowledged by the Judge, then the agreement is final and an order need only be entered on the court record.. If agreement is withdrawn before the consent order has been drawn up, the court can make a final order anyway.

thanks for clearing this for me fiona