Will I need any Expert Witnesses?

It is possible you will need to instruct an expert witness to provide a valuation of one or more assets. You might require a surveyor to value your family home or other properties which you or your spouse may own, or an accountant might be asked to advise of the potential tax liabilities on the disposal of assets, or a valuation of a business may be needed. An Actuary is often required to value one or more of more of the pensions. 

This is not an exhaustive list and it may be necessary to instruct experts in other fields, depending on your personal situation. Typically, expert witnesses are instructed by the parties jointly and the expert’s duty is to the court, as opposed to one of the parties. Broadly speaking, once an expert report has been received, both parties are bound by it. There are limited exceptions where the court might grant permission to one party to obtain another report, but this is very much the exception not the norm and there would need to be a very good reason for a second report to be commissioned. You are not entitled to seek another report just because you do not like the report provided. This is known as ‘expert shopping’.