I was divorced 11 years ago, but the endowment policy attached to the mortgage was left in joint names. My ex-wife is now pursuing a claim for £15,000 for her share of the policy. The bank says my solicitors should have dealt with this in 2005.
The policy should either have been signed over to you (in which case you would have had to compensate your ex-wife by giving her a larger share of the marital assets) or it should have been cashed in, the proceeds split, and a new one started in your sole name. If you’ve paid all the premiums in the meantime you may now have to go to court to argue that your ex-wife is only entitled to half of what the policy was worth at the point she left. I would expect your solicitors to fund this case.