Ancillary Relief

bewilderedhelpneeded

Im not sure if this is the best place to put this but here goes!

My partner (we don't live together) is getting divorced from his wife. They have had the nisi granted (in August last year) and he approached her through his solicitor to attend mediation to sort the financial side out. She refused to attend mediation. He has now received a letter via his solicitor from her solicitor saying she is applying for ancillary relief via the courts. He lives in rented accom and she remains in the family home and she is paying the mortgage and bills. She receives CSA from him, works and gets tax credits and child benefit. There is approx 100k equity in the house, he does not have a pension, we think she does. They have no joint accounts or debts (apart from the mortgage). He wants a clean financial break. He is in the process of applying for legal aid as he is on a very low income. Does anyone know what is likely to be the outcome? If house was sold they would both walk away with lump sum which would enable them both to start again. They have two children who live with her but he has access which was agreed via mediation (she agreed to go to mediation to sort out access but not financial side)

bewilderedhelpneeded

Anyone? Is it likely that the court will order the sale of the home so that they can both take 50% share of the equity and start again? Or are they likely to award my partner a 50% share of the house and the house to be sold when the children reach 18 or is there a risk that he could come out of this with less than 50% share either now or in the future?

Sensible_Jess

Hi bewilderedhelpneeded - I am neither a solicitor nor a legal professional, but I can offer some advise based on my own divorce.

A clean break means that a spouse (normally wife) abandons their claim to a maintainance payment in return for a transfer of a matrimonial asset to thier name (usually the home). This agreement terminates the financial relationship between the two parties.

It is usually not possible to come to terms with a clean break on divorce when there are children under the age of 18.

This I believe refers to when a court helps to decide what the monetary split between a couple should be and maintainance for the children. I believe any agreement a couple makes between themselves about maintainance and financial affairs has to be rubber stamped by the courts anyway to make sure any children from the marriage are not being unfairly disadvantaged.

Based on your post, I don't think it will be possible for your partner to get the 'clean break' as described by you.

Hopefully someone will come along with a more detailed answer soon.
In the meantime - I think it would be a good idea to go to the DirectGov website http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Divorceseparationandrelationshipbreakdown/Moneypropertyandpossessionswhenyourrelationshipends/Workingoutmoneyandpropertythroughancillaryrelief/DG_193768
and for your partner to get some legal advice.

Hope this helped!

Edited - Just read more about child support from this website:
http://www.cmoptions.org/en/options/compare.asp

It seems that you CAN now make an arrangement between yourselves without involving the courts - called a family-based arrangement. However this is not legally binding and can be changed, at a later date whereas a court agreed order is final.

Emmzi

how old are the kids? it may be that she remains in the marital home for now, and when they leave further education, the property is sold and/or he gets a lump sum.

Rikki

Sensible_Jess wrote: »

A clean break means that a spouse (normally wife) abandons their claim to a maintainance payment in return for a transfer of a matrimonial asset to thier name (usually the home). This agreement terminates the financial relationship between the two parties.

It is usually not possible to come to terms with a clean break on divorce when there are children under the age of 18.

This I believe refers to when a court helps to decide what the monetary split between a couple should be and maintainance for the children. I believe any agreement a couple makes between themselves about maintainance and financial affairs has to be rubber stamped by the courts anyway to make sure any children from the marriage are not being unfairly disadvantaged.

It is possible to have a clean break divorce when children are under eighteen.




Maintainance and financial affairs to do with the children do not have to be rubber stamped by the court.

bewilderedhelpneeded

Emmzi wrote: »

how old are the kids? it may be that she remains in the marital home for now, and when they leave further education, the property is sold and/or he gets a lump sum.

The kids are almost at secondary school. I remained in my house when I split with my ex and he has a 50% share in it, which I am due to pay him either when my youngest leaves full time education, I cohabit or remarry or if I chose to sell the house before then. I remortgaged the house so its all in my name but my ex has a charge on it. This was all done by solicitors. But my ex had enough money to agree to this and go out and buy himself a new house with his own mortgage (we were never married so no divorce to go through just something we agreed between ourselves and got solicitors to draw up seperation agreement). My partner is not in this situation and never will be which is why I wondered what the court would consider. he is renting at the moment but looks like he is going to have to leave soon and find somewhere else. A lump sum would give him a deposit to put down on a property for him and the kids (when he has them!)

Sensible_Jess

Rikki wrote: »

It is possible to have a clean break divorce when children are under eighteen.

Maintainance and financial affairs to do with the children do not have to be rubber stamped by the court.

If you'd read my post you'd see I said it was usually not possible to have a clean break divorce where children are under 18. I also updated my post with further information about financial settlements from the CSA website.

bewilderedhelpneeded

Ok he has received court papers today and she is applying for a property adjustment order and pension sharing scheme. There is prob about 100k equity in the house. If the house is sold they could both walk away with 50k which would enable them both to start again. Do you think the court would award this? We don't think she will be able to raise a mortgage to buy out his interest in the property. We are a bit confused about the pension sharing scheme as my partner only has a state pension which he will get when he retires. Surely he won't have to hand some of this over to her? She will have her own state pension!