What if someone will not disclose their finances?

Contents 6 sections

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Financial mediation cannot work properly if one person is expected to make decisions about a settlement without a reliable picture of the finances.

The Family Mediation Council’s Code of Practice requires participants to give full and frank disclosure of material financial information, and gives each person the opportunity to ask questions and request further information where it is needed.

That does not mean every missing document ends the mediation. There is a real difference between information still being gathered and a refusal to provide what the process needs.

When information is simply missing

Disclosure is often incomplete at first, and usually for ordinary reasons.

Somebody may need time to obtain a pension Cash Equivalent, a mortgage statement, a property valuation, bank statements, business accounts, loan information, proof of income, or details of an investment.

We can identify what is outstanding, set out the questions, and allow time for it to be provided. How disclosure works.

When the figures are disputed

Sometimes both people disclose, and disagree about the number.

A property value, or what a business is worth, are the usual ones. The answer is generally to obtain independent evidence – a joint valuation, or specialist advice – rather than simply adopting one person’s figure over the other’s.

When somebody refuses

If a participant will not provide information that is materially necessary to understand the finances, the mediation may need to pause.

A mediator is not a judge and cannot compel anybody to produce documents. Nor does a mediator independently investigate or verify every piece of financial information supplied.

Each person can take independent legal advice about whether the disclosure is sufficient. If meaningful disclosure cannot be achieved, the financial mediation may need to end.

If mediation does end

If the finances cannot be resolved this way, you can take legal advice about the alternatives, including the financial remedy process at court.

That is a statement of fact rather than a warning. Mediation depends on cooperation with the disclosure process. The court has compulsory procedures for the situations where voluntary disclosure cannot resolve matters, and formal disclosure obligations and court directions apply there. The application to start it is a Form A.

Can we carry on about the children?

Possibly, yes.

A problem with financial disclosure does not automatically mean everything else has to stop. Whether mediation remains suitable, and what it should cover, are considered separately. Mediation about children.

Sources and further reading

• FMC Code of Practice – conduct of mediation
• FMC Code of Practice – general principles
• GOV.UK – Form A, notice of intention to proceed with a financial order