Ltd Co bank balance and divorce FDR

[MPwannadecentincome]

I have tried googling, not found much except some articles on insolvency and Prest v Petrodel Resources Ltd & Ors 2013.

Just been to FDR. Ex's Barrister listed my Ltd Co's full bank balance as an asset for me.

I pointed out (thru my barrister) the submission I had filed with court already the calculations from the SDJ xls file regarding the growing Corporation Tax liability as well as VAT liability a well as the fact that remaining balance (which is not very much having been benched so much in the last 18 months) cannot be withdrawn without incurring personal tax liabilities.

Ex's barrister agreed.

In front of the judge my barrister pointed out how much bench time I had had, that the company was not even 1 year old yet and that it would take time to build up any reserves.

The judge seemed to agree when summing up his Directions.

However, Ex did NOT agree and instructed her barrister to leave that full bank balance in the calculation. This is in addition to other points she chose to disregard in the judge's Directions.

So FDR ended with no agreement as she wants to take it to trial even though the joint legal fees for this will easily outweigh any possible gain for her.

Not finding much help on google I am at a lost as to how to PROVE without waiting for another court date that the money in that account does NOT belong to me, further that HMRC have a higher claim on that money than anyone else and that a warchest is needed in order to survive the (obviously will happen in the future if it has happened in the past) quiet periods.

Can anyone point me to somewhere I can get some definitive information that I can send to both sets of solicitors?

TIA!

[Scruff]

This isn't so complicated.

Your Co. is a legal entity in itself and "owns" the banking account. The only asset that YOU own is the Share Capital issued to you, and your Loan Account (if it is in credit) is a personal asset. Both of these items should be shown in your Statement of Assets and Liabilities, which should have been prepared (and signed off) by your Accountant and submitted to your Barrister and shared with your future-ex-wife's Barrister.

The bank account, if it is in the name of the Company, would have had to have been opened using the Certificate of Incorporation, as a proof of the existence of the Company.

If your Barrister hasn't come up with this, I would suggest changing Barrister.

[Contreras]

Sorry not an answer to the question posed, but could you not just pay the balance to HMRC on account? CT you can (over-)pay on account without yet having filed a return, VAT too I think although it would be advised to cancel the DD to avoid it being taken twice.

[tractor]

...

Sorry not an answer to the question posed, but could you not just pay the balance to HMRC on account? CT you can (over-)pay on account without yet having filed a return, VAT too I think although it would be advised to cancel the DD to avoid it being taken twice.

+1 Exactly this.

You will also get a reasonable interest rate on anything you over pay, far higher than the bank will give you

[MPwannadecentincome]

This isn't so complicated.

Your Co. is a legal entity in itself and "owns" the banking account. The only asset that YOU own is the Share Capital issued to you, and your Loan Account (if it is in credit) is a personal asset. Both of these items should be shown in your Statement of Assets and Liabilities, which should have been prepared (and signed off) by your Accountant and submitted to your Barrister and shared with your future-ex-wife's Barrister.

The bank account, if it is in the name of the Company, would have had to have been opened using the Certificate of Incorporation, as a proof of the existence of the Company.

If your Barrister hasn't come up with this, I would suggest changing Barrister.

My solicitor must be useless - he never asked to ask the accountants to prepare any statement of assets and liabilities - nor did the accountant suggest this might be useful - could this be because I have had less than one year of trading?

Cert of Incorporation has been provided, there is no dispute on that part.

The problem is not any barristers really it is the EX who wants written proof that that money is not mine personally.

Other than going to trial and paying an expert witness I have no clue how to provide this proof - a statement of assets and liabilities means nothing to the idiotic EX

[tractor]

...

My solicitor must be useless - he never asked to ask the accountants to prepare any statement of assets and liabilities - nor did the accountant suggest this might be useful - could this be because I have had less than one year of trading?

Cert of Incorporation has been provided, there is no dispute on that part.

The problem is not any barristers really it is the EX who wants written proof that that money is not mine personally.

Other than going to trial and paying an expert witness I have no clue how to provide this proof - a statement of assets and liabilities means nothing to the idiotic EX

To be fair to your accountant and your solicitor they probably did think that but they are remiss for not telling you that you could have them make up and certify your accounts to the current date outside your fiscal obligations and that would be acceptable to the court (who really matters when it gets this far). This of course, would mean that your accounts would cost double this year. Whether that is worthwhile, only you can tell.

If she wants a level of proof over and above what you have provided, let her pay for it. Unless the court orders it, I would say to her go forth and whistle.

[MPwannadecentincome]

If she wants a level of proof over and above what you have provided, let her pay for it. Unless the court orders it, I would say to her go forth and whistle.

Yeah that's the tricky bit... she is not paying for it, she has a loan against the house equity for the legal fees and is burning through it at twice the rate I am.

so for every £10,000 of legal fees she burns that is ten grand less in the pot to be divided up.

So to get the court to order it is going to mean 40 grand less overall in the pot, just to prove that my Ltd Co bank balance is not mine? It'd be cheaper for me to just let it be counted in.

rock <-> hard place

[eek]

Yeah that's the tricky bit... she is not paying for it, she has a loan against the house equity for the legal fees and is burning through it at twice the rate I am.

so for every £10,000 of legal fees she burns that is ten grand less in the pot to be divided up.

So to get the court to order it is going to mean 40 grand less overall in the pot, just to prove that my Ltd Co bank balance is not mine? It'd be cheaper for me to just let it be counted in.

rock <-> hard place

To which the only solution is to get someone to ask her where she will live when the lawyer has finished spending the house...

Its probably because she isn't writing immediate cheques that she hasn't realised exactly how expensive this is...

[MPwannadecentincome]

To which the only solution is to get someone to ask her where she will live when the lawyer has finished spending the house...

Its probably because she isn't writing immediate cheques that she hasn't realised exactly how expensive this is...

oh she knows, she just thinks she can ask the court to make me pay her costs.

she just doesn't want to understand - she is on a different planet.

[TheFaQQer]

Sorry not an answer to the question posed, but could you not just pay the balance to HMRC on account? CT you can (over-)pay on account without yet having filed a return, VAT too I think although it would be advised to cancel the DD to avoid it being taken twice.

+2 - I was about to write pretty much the same thing.

You could also ask your accountants to prepare some kind of monthly management accounts, which shows the state of the company. I don't know how often you send the spreadsheet to SJD, but with InTouch, once I complete a month and the figures have been reviewed, I get a management account summary which shows the assets and liabilities clearly.