Unlock eSignature Legitimacy for Employee Reference Requests in United Kingdom

How to eSign a document: eSignature lawfulness for Employee Reference Request in United Kingdom

in this film we're going to look at how you fill in the financial statement if you have to do it yourself you have to fill in this form if you are going to caught about a financial issue after you've split from your husband wife or civil partner and live in England and Wales solicitors will call it form e until recently most people could get free help from a solicitor to fill in this form but now lots of people have to do it themselves it's a bit of a daunting prospect so that's why we've made this film to help I'm not a lawyer so I find it tricky too but this is how you do it you have to start to fill in this form as soon as possible because it can take ages to find all the information and documents you need and you need to send it in 35 days before the hearing I can't imagine you're watching this purely for entertainment so you might want to go and get your financial statement form now so you can see what I'm talking about you might want to pause me several more times as we go along so you can see what to feeling where when you're filling in your own form if you want to skip to a particular question the numbers will appear along the bottom of the screen you can find the form on the HMC TS website or just type form e into a search engine click on the file next to download you can either print it off and fill it in by hand as I'm about to do or you can do it on the computer whatever is more comfortable for you now if you're doing it on the computer the important thing is never to press this button it will delete everything you filled in and of course remember to save it regularly it will be very frustrating if something goes wrong and you have to do it again if you are going to print it off it's best not to print it double-sided the thing you will probably have noticed straight away and will probably have made you feel a little bit sick as it did me is how long it is but don't worry you can do it bit by bit and take your time if you don't have lots of valuable stuff and you don't have your own business then there'll be lots of it but you don't need to fill in so front page there is a box in the top right-hand corner that says to be completed by the relevant party that's me apparently the name of the court I can find at the top of the paperwork I've been sent about this and the case number again it's on the paperwork the applicant is the person who has asked the court for a financial order again that's me the respondent is my ex next on the left-hand side of the page there is a box with the word of above it I put my name in this box as it is my financial statement I was married so I took the spouse box and for now I'm going to leave the date blank as this should be the date you finish the form below that the parties are me and my ex next I take more boxes I'm a spouse again because I was married and I'm the applicant and this is a financial relief application and my ex is a spouse also the respondent I ignore the third line of tick boxes and again tick financial relief application at the bottom of the front page is a box next to the words this statement is filed by as you don't have a solicitor you put your name and address in this box the next few questions are quite easy I just have to fill in my details so I'll jump on to the next slightly tricky one which is 1.10 this asks about children of the family this just means any children you and your ex have together any stepchild adopted child and any other child whom you have both treated as a child of your family a child can be a child of the family even if they are the child of one or neither of you if you aren't sure then just put them down and the court can decide question one point 11 asks about your health and the children's you don't need to put anything here unless one of you has a health issue or disability that affects your income for example it means you couldn't work more hours if you put anything down here you will need a medical evidence to back it up if you don't have any issues just leave it blank question 1.12 ask for information about the children's education so for me both my girls go to summer for primary school next year our eldest Nicola will move to secondary school but we don't know yet which one the next one asks about any arrangements you've made about child maintenance this might be something you've sorted out between you done through child maintenance service or with the help of a mediator we've not sorted anything out yet it sets to agree the kids will live with me for most of the week so it'll be my X who pay some child maintenance if you haven't sorted anything out yet what you can do is go into the calculator on the child maintenance options website you put in your details and at the end it gives you an estimate of how much child maintenance he should pay and then you write it down the next section you only need to fill in if you are asking the court to change an existing financial order if you are then you need to explain which parts you want to change here next you need to give details about any other court cases between you and your ex even if they're finished so I just put in the details of our divorce case question 1.16 ask the address where you are living now who else lives there and the basis on which you live there this might be as a tenant a lodger and owner occupier if you own your own home or just staying with friends I'm staying with my mum until I can find somewhere permanent so I'll put that ok section to your financial details you need to take your time on this section and be completely honest if you forget to include something it may look as though you're trying to hide things if you're not sure whether to include something put it down and let the judge decide the other thing to notice is this grey box the grey boxes tell you what documents to include to prove what you say so 2.1 you only fill in this section if the last home you shared with your ex was owned by one or both of you and it has not yet been sold if you've rented it or sold it already you just move on to the next section my ex owns the flat and still owns it so I have to fill in the details then it asks for the Land Registry number if your home is registered and most buildings in England and Wales are it will have a title number identifying it if you have the land certificate or a copy you will find the title number there alternatively bring your mortgage company and ask them for it or if like me you don't have this information and the mortgage isn't in your name then just write down you don't know there's lots of questions here about the mortgage account numbers type of mortgage amount outstanding if the mortgage company will charge you if you sold now etc these details should be on your last mortgage statement or you can ring up and ask or if like me you don't have any of these details because it's in your exes name you just right don't know details of who owns the property and the extent of your legal and beneficial interest in it okay so if you own your own home in just your own name then you write down I am the sole owner if you and your ex or indeed anybody else owned it between you then write that and if you have agreed the shares in which you own it write that down - my ex is the sole owner of the property so I write that down but this is also where you say if you disagree with what the paperwork says about who owns the property I do I paid half the mortgage and for half of the home improvements for nine years I think I deserve a share current market value if you've had your house valued in the last six months you can use that figure otherwise you have to guess based on the prices of similar properties in the same part of town if you have no idea ask a couple of local estate agents estimate the costs of sale of the property this includes things like estate agents fees conveyancing getting an energy performance certificate etc most people just put down 3% of the market value total equity in the property this is the value of what is left after you have deducted the mortgage you owe any charges you have to pay if you repay the mortgage early and how much it would cost you to sell it the Sun that is left over is what is available to divide up between you and your ex sometimes this can be little or nothing or even a negative amount and then this last box on the page the total value of the interest in the family home if you think you own half of the house half this figure and write it here okay section 2.2 this is about any other property land or buildings you may own or own a bit of for example if you owned a holiday cottage or a share in a shop or your home of your new partner then you need to tell the court that this page asks for the same information as in the previous section if you have more than one property for example to buy to let properties you must fill in a separate section 2.2 for each one at the bottom you are asked for the total value of your interest in any other properties you own other than the family home this means how much are the value in these properties you think belongs to you if you don't own any other land property or buildings you can just move on to section 2.3 here you have to list all the bank building society and savings accounts that you have or have had in the last 12 months this includes accounts in your name and in joint names so this would include for example an account which was open 8 months ago even though it is now closed you have to put down all of your accounts even those that are overdrawn or empty it's really important that you put everything down here as even honest mistakes can increase bad and cause suspicion it's important to get the most up-to-date balance that you can in fact as it will take you a long time to fill in this form you might want to fill the balances in at the end when you were finished so they can be as up-to-date as possible the last column asks for the total current value of your interest this means the amount in the account that you think belongs to you I have a joint account with each of my daughter's but the money in there is all for them so I write nil for that and I still have a joint account with my ex I think half of that money should be mine so I'm going to write that figure down the next section is basically the same but deals with any investments you have like shares Isis bonds stocks etc if you have stocks estimate their value using a respectable mainstream value for example the Financial Times and right at the bottom estimated on and then the date I don't have anything like this so I can just move on to point five now you have to give details of any life insurance policies including endowment policies you hold it's pretty straightforward until we get to if the policy is assigned state in whose favor and amount of charge this means if you've transferred some of this policy to someone else for example if you've given 50% to your daughter if you haven't transferred any of it just leave it blank name of any other owner and extent of your interest in the policy if the policy is in the name of more than one person you put the name of the other person or people here you also say what percentage of the policy belongs to you maturity date some kinds of policies payout on a particular date that's the maturity date you can find this information on the policy document if not ask the company you bought it from current surrender value if applicable this is the amount of money the company would pay you if you cancel the policy now the company you bought it from if your policy has a surrender value and for the current amount if policy includes life insurance the amount of the insurance and the name of the person whose life is insured okay so life insurance pays out money on the death of the person whose life is insured the amount and the name of the person who is insured should be on the policy document but if it is not clear ask the company you bought the policy from total current surrender value of your interest in this policy this is the amount of money that will belong to you if you cancel the policy now lots of life insurance has a surrender value of zero again check this with the company you bought the policy from if the policy is in just your name you will get 100% of the surrender value but if for example 75% belongs to your child the value of your interest is only 25% of the current surrender value two point six details of all monies owed to you okay so if you've lent some and some money or you're waiting to get paid for something this is where you put it don't include anything that you've written anywhere else on this form 2.7 details of all cash sounds held in excess of 500 pounds this is about any cash you've got anywhere that amounts to more than five hundred pounds I don't have a 500 pound stashed away my mattress and if I did this is where I put it down to point 8 details of personal belongings individually worth more than 500 pounds if you've got something that you could sell for more than 500 pounds perhaps your car or you have an expensive item of jewelry or paintings or a pedigree dog before you start listing things check out there likely resale value online first even if they were really expensive you might not be able to sell them secondhand for much if you do have things that fall into this category put them down you can always make sure later that they are not considered part of your assets that can be divided I don't have anything worth more than five hundred pounds so I'm going to leave it blank two point nine details of any liabilities you have this means debts the law cause them liabilities so this is where you put the details of things like your credit cards store cards car loans student loans any other money you owe you do not need to repeat any information you've already given about overdrawn accounts or the money you owe on a mortgage include the debts that are just your responsibility as well as any that are in joint names if you have any joint debts you need to say how much of each debt you are responsible for don't include here any debts that are just in your ex's name 2.10 capital gains tax climbing this question is asking you to estimate the amount of capital gains tax you would have to pay if you sold something a value you might pay capital gains tax on the profit you make when you sell something of value belonging to you may be something like a second home or some shares you own if you think it might apply to you you can get more information on the HMRC website or if you have an accountant they will be able to help you if you don't have something like a buy-to-let property or shares you don't need to launch this question just leave it blank 2.11 details of all your business interests complete one page for each business you have an interest in okay so you only fill in this section if you own part or all of a business or if you're self-employed if you have an accountant they may be able to help you with the information you need to complete it you don't need to give details about the income you get from your business here you do this later 2.12 list any directorships you hold this is only for people who were directors of companies or corporations if you're not a director then just move on to the next section 2.13 give details of all your pension rights or PPF compensation entitlements so this section asks about information about your pension if you only have a right to a basic state pension you don't need to fill this section in if you have any other pensions you will need to contact your pension provider and ask them for a valuation they should also be able to help you with answers for the questions in this next section be where public sector pensions can take a very long time to give you evidence of your pension valuation often three months so you want to get on with asking for this as soon as possible make sure you keep evidence of your request a copy of the email or letter so that if it hasn't arrived in time you can prove that you did all you could when it asks about c/e it means the cash equivalent this is the amount of money that the managers of your pension scheme could transfer into another scheme when it asks is the pension in payment or drawdown it means are you getting any money from it either regular payments or drawdown is a way of taking money out of your pension without having to buy an annuity is the PPF compensation capped this is about where pension providers have gone bust if you've never heard of PPF it's not something you need to worry about give details of any other assets not listed okay so this is where you give information about anything else you own or own a share in whether it's an England and Wales or anywhere else so this means literally anything of value anything you have in a trust anything you have loaned to somebody anything at all it also includes things that you don't own but expect in the near future for example if you're expecting a compensation payment or if somebody has recently died and you know that you're definitely going to inherit from them if at any point on this form you are not sure if something would be relevant put it down and the judge can decide 2.15 details of earned income from employment okay so this is relatively straightforward find your p60 and all the details are on that if you have two jobs you have to fill in this page twice gross income means the amount you get paid before tax national insurance etc 2.16 income from self-employment or partnership you have to fill in this section if you are self-employed or in a business partnership if you have an accountant they should be able to help you with the information you need to point 17 income from investments okay so in this section you give details of any income you get from investments or for example a buy to let property holiday home Caravan shares high-value interest accounts etc again I don't have any so I just move on to point 18 details of all state benefits you are currently receiving okay so the only tricky thing here is to make sure you know which of your benefits are paid every four weeks and which every calendar month for example child benefit is paid every four weeks I get the income for the next twelve months for that by timesing that by thirteen if you're in any doubt ring the DWP 2.19 any other income okay so this is where you put down any other income that you either received in the last year or you will receive in the next year remember if you are ever not sure if something is relevant just put it down so the judge can decide 2.20 okay so on these pages you just fill in the total amounts from the previous pages you can see at the bottom here total a then add a b c e f g up and then subtract the amount of your debt which is the total for d be careful not to accidentally add your debts as though they are positive figures to point to one and then this next box is similar but it's the summary of estimated income for the next twelve months so i just go back through the form and find the figures I had as titles for h IJ K and L right so that's the end of that section part three financial and requirements okay so this part asks about how much money you and any children living with you need to live on before you start this section you need to work out how much money you're going to need advice now who have produced a checklist to help you it's part of their written guide to dealing with this form how to fill in a financial statement without the help of a lawyer you can download it here at WWE advice now org UK forward slash form e once you've had a good long think about that and filled in the checklist we'll get started on this next section when you're working out what you need try to think about things that you might not need straightaway but you might need next year for example at some point you may need to replace your washing machine so you need to factor that in three point one this asks whether you've calculated your income on a weekly monthly or annual basis once you've decided so it mix them up this bit also asks you to tell the court if the income you need for you and your children is likely to change in the near future why it is changing and an estimate of the cost so for example if you know your energy bills or mortgage are about to go up tell the court here and estimate how much more income you will need to cover the additional expense three point one point one income needs for yourself and any children living with you I've used the template produced by advice now so I'm just going to write the total in here and attach the full checklist so they can see where I got my figures from three point one point two this asks about any separate income needs for the children you don't need to include their food heating etc as you've included the expenses for the whole household in the box above but if they have any expenses of their own you should include it here this might include school fees swimming lessons school trips etc three point two point one this section asks about your capital needs capital is a chunk of money you may need a chunk of money if you're going to buy a home for you and the children to live in or for example to buy a car to get you to work in this section you explain what you need and how much it will cost 3.2.2 if any of your children have separate capital needs for example for a car a wheelchair a computer you identify these here as well as the cost you need to show how you've estimated the cost of each item perhaps from a range of online prices for the same item and that it is reasonable the court will think something is reasonable if it's in keeping with what you're used to so if you're used to driving a Ford Fiesta the court will not think it reasonable that you now need a Porsche if neither of you has any money to meet your capital needs you can need the section blank you may have needs but unfortunately in practice they are not going to be met okay so once apart for other information 4.1.1 this bit ask you about any significant changes to your finances that have happened in the last 12 months so you have to say here if for example you won the lottery 10 months ago you gave something very valuable away or your pay has changed substantially or you have had 10 thousand pounds in savings 3 months ago but now you only have 250 quid left I've spent all my savings so I put that down for point one point two so this next bit asks you about any significant changes that are likely to happen within the next 12 months so for example you have to say if you're going to be made redundant or get a big bonus or pay rise or if your mortgage payments are going to go up because you've come to the end of a fixed-rate or say if one of your children is about to become 18 and you're lose child benefit if something significant changes after you filled in the form but your case is still ongoing you still need to let the court know it's not worth pretending you didn't know about something 4.2 brief details of the standard of living enjoyed by you and your ex during the marriage civil partnership right so this is where you give the court an idea of what you've been used to if you've had a regular foreign holiday every year or something like a cleaner or babysitters this is where you include that and say how often it might also be useful to include what your average monthly food shopping bill came to or what sort of car if any you had 4.3 4.3 is asking about particular contributions to the family property assets or outgoings or to family life so for example if you worked only part-time in order to look after the kids you should put that down here or if your parents gave you money for the deposit when you bought a home or if they pay for things like family holidays or school trips you should put that down or if one of you brought considerably more money to the marriage than the other things like that should go here okay on to Section four point four so this is where you say if your ex is past behavior should be taken into account in deciding how to divide up your money for most people nothing is going to be bad enough to be relevant here the court won't consider having had lots of affairs as bad enough so it's not worth putting that down it has to be really really bad or behavior that affects your finances for example if your ex sexually abuse the children or left you with injuries that meant that you couldn't work or had something like a gambling problem that left you with no money then you put that down before you include any information here you might want to get legal advice to see if it's relevant the risk is that if you put something that is irrelevant it might create anger and more bad feeling and that will make it harder so next section four point five give details of any other circumstances that you consider could significantly affect the extent of the financial provision to be made okay so this is where you include things like if there is something that limits the amount you can earn perhaps ill health or looking after the children if it is likely you might get made redundant or retire or if you have one elderly parent from whom it is likely you will inherit soon or if you have plans to marry again or move in with your new partner stuff like that 4.6 you only need to fill in this section if you have remarried or formed a new civil partnership or moved in with a new partner or if you plan to do any of these things if you have or plan to then you need to give details of your new partners or financial circumstances here if you know them if you don't know them you don't have to give them but the court may assume your new partner is contributing to your living expenses the court wants this information because it may help the judge make a fairer decision it is not usually about you getting less because you have a new partner it is more likely to be about when you get your share so for example if you can live with your new partner in their home then the court may say you have to wait to get your share of the money from the family home until your children have grown up and moved out parts 5 order sort in this section the court asks about what kind of court order you're looking for it's a good idea to get some legal advice or say that you want full disclosure basically you want to see where your ex has before you decide what you want I know I'm suggesting the house should be sold so I write that here I don't think I want maintenance payments but I might need them to make ends meet so I'm going to put down here I don't think I want maintenance payments but I want to keep that as an option anything that doesn't apply to you you can just leave blank okay a statement of truth we're nearly finished I cross out this bit the applicant respondent believes so it just says I believe the facts stated in this statement are true I cross out the next line as that would be as if a lawyer filling in this form for me then I complete my name finally an easy question my postal address and sign and date it if your ex has a solicitor put the name of the firm inside this box here if they don't just leave it blank and you can ignore the position or office held box last page this lists all the documents that you'll need to send off with this form if they are relevant things like bank statements mortgage statements insurance policy documents and details about your pension if you don't have all the documents that are supposed to go with it tick the to follow box and try to get them later it's a really good idea to keep copies of any emails or letters that you write asking for evidence and if you phone make a note of the date and time the person you spoke to what was said and keep it safe that way if nothing arrives in time for your first appointment you can show that you ask for it and that it's not your fault now remember to go back and fill in today's date on the first page if you haven't written in the balances if your accounts in section 2.3 remember to do that now it's a really good idea to make a copy of this form so I'm going to take it somewhere to get photocopies and then all I need to do is send it you can find more help at WWE advice now a UK forward slash going to court good luck