advice for divorce/settlement

motor_bike · 17 July 2017 at 12:16PM

hi,

need a bit of advice for a freind of mine who is about to go through with a divorce.

here are the basic details of whats happend so far..

husband walked out just over a year ago without warning and gave no real reason. up until then it was all happy families. later found out to have comited adultry.

they have two children , one whos left home and another who is 18 years old and still at home in full time education and will be for the next couple of years.

husband has a good job with a good salery ( 4k pm)
wife gave up a good job to raise the family and support husband with his job as he climbed the ranks to management, when kids were old enough the wife got various jobs and fitted that in with bringing up the kids.

they have a joint mortgage with about 150k outsanding on a 250k home .

husband has got two very good pensions and the 4k pm salery
wife earns 1.500 k pm.

my freind the wife wants to know what the potential or posible out come will be regaurding the final settlement agreement .

she has asked him for a divorce and is still in the family home.
no responce as yet .
husband dosnt want any contact at all with the wife or the kids.

husband is how ever paying the mortgage still and the current deal ends in october and i think he is dragging his heels until then . thinking he can come off the mortgage easier ?? .

like i say these are the basic details and probably a common divorce situation. any help or advice would be greatfull . thanks

PeacefulWaters · 17 July 2017 at 12:29PM

Half the value of the house equity.

Half the value of the pensions.

Half the value of the savings.

Half the value of any other debts.

Seem like a reasonable starting point?

davidwood123 · 17 July 2017 at 12:36PM

The house should be sold and the equity split

( Her son is a grown adult so no need for that family home excuse)

Half the value of any savings (if any)

If no savings they both are responsible for half of any debts.

Half the value of the pensions.

motor_bike · 17 July 2017 at 12:43PM

thanks so far for the info.

house is going on the market next week , been valued this weekend just gone .

as far as i know the wife has no savings and very little joint debt.
husband has a fare bit of debt , his own doing.

can restrictions be put on the husbands pension i.e if wife were to get re married or a new partner then no claim to pension ?ect.

thanks again.

motor_bike · 17 July 2017 at 2:02PM

sounds to me like the wife made some sacrifices to support the husband with his job , old fashiond male bread winner and wife looks after kids and home etc but now she is left without a pot to you know what in after all those years of support to the huband ect.

she is very worried about her future and selling her home of 20 odd years due to no fault of her own . she is going to seek legal advice but just wanted a heads up of what to expect. she is not a gold digger and justs wants to get it sorted with the minimum of fuss and of course costs as she is struggling now with money and obviously getting a new home and a mortgage or renting is probably going to very dificult , i doubt she will be alble to find a house or a mortgage in the area where she lives and works .

there may be more to this but i think the basic info is the top and bottom of this . any more info would be gratefull i dont want to see her get ripped off but you have to be a realist i suppose. anyway thanks again and i will pass on whats been said

Fosterdog · 17 July 2017 at 2:34PM

How old is she? Depending on age, so also mortgage term she may well be able to buy him out and keep the house, especially if she forfeits any part of his pensions in return for a bigger share in the equity in the house. As it stands (not taking into account fees, taxes etc.) they each have £50,000 equity in the house, if she used her share as the deposit she would need a mortgage for £200000 which is pushing it a bit on her income. However if she could cut that down it may be affordable. If the house is big enough she could also consider a lodger.

motor_bike · 17 July 2017 at 2:47PM

Fosterdog wrote: »

How old is she? Depending on age, so also mortgage term she may well be able to buy him out and keep the house, especially if she forfeits any part of his pensions in return for a bigger share in the equity in the house. As it stands (not taking into account fees, taxes etc.) they each have £50,000 equity in the house, if she used her share as the deposit she would need a mortgage for £200000 which is pushing it a bit on her income. However if she could cut that down it may be affordable. If the house is big enough she could also consider a lodger.

she is 48 years old, and i doubt very much she will get a 200K mortgage due to salery and general living costs ect, also remember she has her 18year old daughter still at home for at least the next 2 years she is in full time education. i dont think a lodger is a good idea as its not a garenteed income . i know its a tough one but its a not an unusuall situation . she is already living on a very tight budget not spending on anything apart from daily living so i too think its going to be very tough

BJV · 17 July 2017 at 2:56PM

Hi no real advice except to say so sorry for your friend. I would be devastated if that was me. Hope she can sort it out and start again.

TBagpuss · 17 July 2017 at 2:58PM

The overriding aim is to come up with a settlement fair to both parties, taking into account their needs, financial resources (income and earning capacity etc)

It's usual to start at 50/50 and the make whatever adjustment is necessary to ensure that the outcome is fair.

Given the ages of the children,both parties will have broadly similar needs (somewhere to live, suitable for them and for children to visit) and it's reasonable to assume that both will work full time (not clear if W currently works full time or not)

However, as she has a lower income and presumably couldn't walk into a £70K p.a job to match H's pay,(or even a £50K one, if the £4K is gross) W's needs will be greater - she will have a much lower mortgage capacity, less disposable income to build savings etc, so assuming other things are broadly equal, it's likely that she would be entitled to a higher share of the assets.

She/they will need to look at what the costs of buying a property are, what mortgage capacity each has and so on.

It may well be that it would be reasonable for W to have 60-70% of the available assets, although things such as both parties ages will also be relevant.

It would be possible for W to ask for spousal maintenance but it is much more common to try to have a clean break, rather than ongoing maintenance

If the 18 year old is in secondary level education then it may be reasonable to delay sale of the house until they have completed that. If they are at University but living at home then it is less likely to be reasonable.

davidwood123 · 17 July 2017 at 4:00PM

TBagpuss wrote: »

The overriding aim is to come up with a settlement fair to both parties, taking into account their needs, financial resources (income and earning capacity etc)

It's usual to start at 50/50 and the make whatever adjustment is necessary to ensure that the outcome is fair.

Given the ages of the children,both parties will have broadly similar needs (somewhere to live, suitable for them and for children to visit) and it's reasonable to assume that both will work full time (not clear if W currently works full time or not)

However, as she has a lower income and presumably couldn't walk into a £70K p.a job to match H's pay,(or even a £50K one, if the £4K is gross) W's needs will be greater - she will have a much lower mortgage capacity, less disposable income to build savings etc, so assuming other things are broadly equal, it's likely that she would be entitled to a higher share of the assets.

She/they will need to look at what the costs of buying a property are, what mortgage capacity each has and so on.

It may well be that it would be reasonable for W to have 60-70% of the available assets, although things such as both parties ages will also be relevant.

It would be possible for W to ask for spousal maintenance but it is much more common to try to have a clean break, rather than ongoing maintenance

If the 18 year old is in secondary level education then it may be reasonable to delay sale of the house until they have completed that. If they are at University but living at home then it is less likely to be reasonable.

If an 18 year old adult can't deal with a house move when their exams (or course depending on what year) haven't even started they are going to struggle when they get slapped by the reality of real life.

motor_bike · 17 July 2017 at 4:15PM

davidwood123 wrote: »

If an 18 year old adult can't deal with a house move when their exams (or course depending on what year) haven't even started they are going to struggle when they get slapped by the reality of real life.

the ability of the my freinds daughter is not in question here, the final settlement agreement is the question i asked . i just gave the current details of the situiation. thanks

advice for divorce/settlement

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