First of all THANKS to CAGisFORME, patrikq1, Ell-en and gozmo. UPDATE Yesterday's first proceeding for emergency maintenance revealed that in just the last financial year, my fat cat ex made £250k!.....and he didnt even want to pay £1300/m to me! Stingy B****** THE REASON WHY HE TOOK THE UNUSUAL STEP DECIEVING HSBC INTO CLOSING OUR JOINT ACCOUNTS WITHOUT MY SIGNATURE : To hide any trace that I ONLY had JOINT accounts with him during the 9 year marriage. ie to weaken future arguments I can make that we had in fact agreed that I was to be the one cleaning and making up the house while he 'built his empire'. WARNING Do not for one second think that a fat cat B****** banker does anything WITHOUT a carefully thought out intention to decieve. OK, now smile.......and trudge on fighting big fat cat B****** bank/bankers

CAGisforME, THANKS for your input and helping others who still have to wear the divorce T-shirt. The answers are: 1) As far as I am aware, no, the accounts were NOT with 'Staff Marker' 2) My ex planned the separation meticulously months before running off with the girlfriend. He made sure I am without financial resources. After using a useless Legal Aid solicitor who did nothing, I managed to persuade a £274/hour CITY solicitor to take my case even though I made clear that I can only pay his first £274 to get me a financial settlement court date which will be for 21Nov. I will inform him of these issue. 3) I have informed HSBC of a new 'correspondence address' - a c/o address to a friend's house. I have kept the martimonial address on the records saying I will be fighting for the matrimonial home. They agree to let me keep the matrimonial address AND a separate 'correspondence address'. 4) HSBC said they had failed to contact me to ask my permission to allow my ex to get the accounts closed. Since I 'couldnt be contacted' they closed it anyway because said they - a) The amount was credited to me anyway. The bank WAS aware that there was matrimonial dispute. Before the absolute closure of the accounts, it was FROZEN FOR 16 MONTHS. HSBC HAS informed me why they closed the account - my ex applied, they couldnt contact me, the sum was trivial AND credited to me, so they went ahead with it. ARE THEY JUSTIFIED? YOUR ANSWER MAKES SENSE - overdraft. Today HSBC called to say that though my personal loan for £9000 is not approved, they have given me a £5000 overdraft on my own Premiere account. And YES! I tell my ex - 'I dont love you anymore' just to wind him up. And my new CITY solicitor REALLY PIS*es him off!!! MY ex THOUGHT I WILL CONTINUE TO BE THE SUBSERVIENT HOUSEWIFE - one who doesnt fight back. Dont get angry, get EVERYTHING!

Hello. I don't know where to get advise and appreciate any help. My ex-husband is a fat-cat banker (Chase, HSBC, ABMRO) and I am a housewife. We USED to have joint bank accounts- savings and current with HSBC. One of the things he was adamant about was to close both these accounts. He needed my signature. I didnt want to sign until we sort out everything else with the divorce financial settlement. The ex was hoping I would settle for 100k quietly. He just learned that a big fat solicitor is taking my case even though I paid only the solicitor's first fee. He was wrathful. Then he did something strange. STRANGE THING WHICH COULDNT WAIT: Why was it SO IMPORTANT for my ex to suddenly apply to HSBC to close these joint accounts? HSBC took it into consideration. They 'wrote' to me seeking my agreement. The letters came back 'return to sender' - because the mail was sent to the matrimonial home where he is staying with his vegetarian girlfriend. He knew I could be contacted by mobile but obviously didnt want HSBC to get in touch with me so he didnt bother to tell them. I have internet banking but neither HSBC bothered to send me an email message on my internet banking account. HSBC thought that since my ex so 'kindly' agreed that the remainder of those accounts would be credited to me (totaled £6) in another HSBC account (my own account), closing the joint accounts would do no harm. I finally called them to find out why these accounts were closed. I saw them missing from my internet banking list. I am a HSBC Premiere client. HSBC said it was NOT normal practise for them to close joint accounts without joint signatures. I guess my fat cat, ex HSBC manager on 100k plus managed to convince HSBC. WHY WAS THESE ACCOUNTS SO IMPORTANT FOR MY EX TO GET CLOSED THAT HE APPLIED TO HSBC AND MISLED THEM SO THEY ARE INDEED CLOSED? I feel upset that people with power and influence can do whatever they like. HSBC says they can't reinstated the accounts. Should they? I wish I can sue HSBC too for letting my ex close the joint accounts even though they are clearly a contentious issue and mentioned in the divorce settlement papers. I NEVER understood why these joint bank accounts are so important, since they were blocked due to our marital dispute, but I just put up reisitance simply becuase it means so much to my ex. If my ex wants something done, I know, its not going to be beneficial to me. What is the secret?