Court Financial Disclosure — Overview (England & Wales)

• No witness and no notary are needed. You sign a statement of truth yourself. Anyone telling you it must be witnessed or notarised is describing a different kind of document.
• Leaving it off has consequences. An unverified statement of case remains effective unless struck out, but the party may not rely on it as evidence of the matters in it. An unverified witness statement may be ruled inadmissible.
• A false one is not a rounding error. CPR 32.14 provides that contempt proceedings may be brought against a person who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document prepared in anticipation of or during proceedings and verified by a statement of truth, without an honest belief in its truth.
• The ceiling is real. Where a court may commit for contempt and no other limit applies, committal is for a fixed term not exceeding two years in a superior court. Under section 14 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 the county court is treated as a superior court for this purpose, not an inferior one.
• Signing for a business. For a company, a person holding a senior position such as a director, the secretary or the chief executive; for a partnership, any partner. A legal representative may sign on a client’s behalf.

• Service. The order must be served personally, at least 14 days before the hearing. Note how and when it actually reached you.
• Your travelling expenses. The person summoned may ask for reasonable travelling expenses within 7 days of service, and the creditor must pay if asked. Routinely missed, because nobody mentions it.
• The questioning. It is on oath, normally conducted by a court officer, and the judgment creditor may attend and ask questions too.
• The questionnaire. The court’s standard record for an individual is form EX140, “Record of examination (individual)”. Reading it beforehand tells you exactly what you will be asked.
• Not turning up. Non-attendance, refusing the oath, or refusing to answer is referred to a judge, who may deal with the person for contempt. If you cannot attend, deal with it before the hearing, not after.

• Application to vary a judgment or order, suspend enforcement or suspend a warrant — £16. People often assume they have the wrong form because the fee is so small.
• Issuing an application for an order for a debtor to attend court — £69; bailiff service of that order — £139.
• Warrant of control £96 • charging order £139 • attachment of earnings order £139.
• Application on notice where no other fee is specified — £321; application by consent or without notice — £126.

• The deadline runs backwards. Under the Family Procedure Rules, not less than 35 days before the first appointment both parties must simultaneously exchange with each other and file with the court a financial statement, verified by a statement of truth. Diary it from the hearing date, not from the day you were told.
• Do not attach a lever-arch file. The rules allow the financial statement to be accompanied by specified documents only: any documents required by the financial statement, and any other documents necessary to explain or clarify information contained in it.
• Non-disclosure can undo a finished order. In Sharland v Sharland [2015] UKSC 60 (judgment 14 October 2015) the Supreme Court held that fraud in the disclosure given to a family court vitiates consent to the resulting order, the burden shifting to the party who did not disclose. Gohil v Gohil [2015] UKSC 61 was handed down the same day.
• Hiding assets can cost more than showing them. In Moher v Moher [2019] EWCA Civ 1482 (judgment 21 August 2019) the Court of Appeal confirmed that where a party has not disclosed properly the court is not obliged to put a figure or a bracket on the undisclosed assets; it may instead infer that the resources are sufficient, provided the inference is properly drawn and reasonable rather than speculation, and must ensure the non-discloser is not better off for failing to comply.
• “It belongs to the company, not to me.” Whether a company’s assets can be treated as its owner’s is a legal question, examined by the Supreme Court in Prest v Petrodel Resources Ltd [2013] UKSC 34 (judgment 12 June 2013). It is never a filing choice. Always disclose it and explain it.