# Lying in affidavit of means



## Loaded1973 (3 Aug 2006)

What are the implications of someone lying on their affidavit of means in a divorce case? essentially the person has not disclosed assets (car) and has claimed gym membership which they don't have, also they have not declared receiving monies from 2 compensation claims.

is it up to the solicitor to mention before or during the proceedings.

Any advise or help would be appreciated.


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## ClubMan (3 Aug 2006)

I would have assumed that if a false affidavit was used in court then it would be tantamount to perjury?


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## mf1 (3 Aug 2006)

Practically, the other side can ask for evidence e.g. receipt for gym membership. Discovery ( i.e. producing supporting paperwork) will also show information. If the other side have evidence, its easy enough just to write an open letter asking for confirmation on (a) car and its value ( it may be  a genuine oversight) and (b) any recent compensation payments. If they're several years old, they may well have been spent. 

In my own experience, people in divorce cases rarely grasp what they are supposed to be declaring, some people genuinely do forget or misunderstand and way too many people believe that there is far more money than there actually is. 

In practice, unless there is a significant, determined and blatant attempt to deceive the Court, its unlikely to make a huge difference to the Court. 

mf


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## miak (3 Aug 2006)

Discrepencies in an Affidavit of Means are actually quite common! You should really bring it to your solicitor's attention. She may be able to solve it through correspondence with the other party's solicitor and there is usually a meeting between both parties and their representation before it will ever go in front of a Judge. In my experience (I'm not a qualified solicitor) it is very difficult to bring something like this up when you are actually in court, the whole idea being that these matters are resolved beforehand and the Judge will make any ancilliary orders on the back of this. As well as this, even if you cannot prove that the person is lying in the affidavit there will usually be an opportunity later to have any orders made by the Judge revised so even if the compensation payments, car etc only come to light later, things may be adjusted accordingly at that later date. Best course of action, as always, is to ask your solicitor.


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## Loaded1973 (3 Aug 2006)

This person declared a 91 car, even though they are driving a 01, different make and model, so it is not a typo. They also received claims this year, can i request they ammend their affidavit. I am not looking for any money, they are and seem to have a lot more than I have and i do not want the judge to think I am better off.
There is no property, or children involved.

I have run all this by the solicitor, but they do not seem to think this is important.


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## keeragh (18 Feb 2008)

Can someone help me out too. I am separated and my ex now lives in england. We have a financial agreement in place - the affidavit of means. I now found out that instead of one job and a house - he has two jobs and three houses.! His partner is also working now. He served english divorce papers on me on friday. What can i do? I'm scrimping and saving and cant make ends meet...


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## Thirsty (19 Feb 2008)

> There is no property, or children involved.


So if there is no property there is no settlement required there.  No children - don't need to worry about maintenance or access.   

So what are the issues being contested?  Spousal maintenance?  Pension adjustment?  

If there aren't any settlement issues being contested then your Sotlr could be right and it really doesn't matter all that much.


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## tonytt23 (10 Aug 2010)

My girlfriend was threatened by her husband to ommitt their savings (from the sale of their house, which he was holding and promised to share with her after) during their divorse, which she did. She is now having trouble getting her half of the money from him and wants to pursue it legally - does anyone know what the possible implications could be?


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## mf1 (10 Aug 2010)

Oh, what a tangled web we weave!

She was threatened? Or one or both of them  was getting legal aid and the savings would have ruined that? She can certainly try and sue but if he is already giving her trouble, I'd say she has little chance of recovering anything. 

mf


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## roisinmac (17 Aug 2014)

*lying in affadavid of means*

I am going through a separation at the moment and my other half gave me an affadavid of means that was laughable.Suffice to say my marriage was based on lies and deception. This will be a costly divorce now. what can I do?


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## mf1 (19 Aug 2014)

roisinmac said:


> I am going through a separation at the moment and my other half gave me an affadavid of means that was laughable.Suffice to say my marriage was based on lies and deception. This will be a costly divorce now. what can I do?



There's a lot going on in those 4 sentences. When you say "what can i do?" what do you mean? 

Do you mean - can he be done for perjury?

or how do you find out what his assets are? or do you get everything because you can prove that he is lying?

Or - is there any possibility that he is telling the truth in which case your financial circumstances are worse than you had hoped? 

The best thing you can do is to talk to an experienced family law solicitor who will talk you through your own specific circumstances. 

mf


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