Divorce: Higher education fund for children

BenjaG

I am living in separation and seeking a divorce. We have two adult children in higher education, (one in the UK, one in the Netherlands) for probably another four years. I have been the main bred winner and always paid for the house, car, mortgage, holidays, children, education, ..., etc ... etc


Our main asset is a house (jointly owned and in which she lives), which I urgently need to sell, as I can no longer afford to pay the mortgage while financing four households. After paying the mortgage the house sell should leave us just under £150,000 each.


I have a small and shrinking franchise business (in my name), which is difficult if not impossible to sell. Of course my wife is valuing the business higher than I am and wants money for it. However, if I would sell my franchise (e.g. to her) I would be unemployed with no great job prospects.


My wife is earning about £20,000 gross, I am earning less than £35,000 gross p/a.


To avoid paying my wife for keeping my business I would like to offset the value of the business against the money I pay for the upkeep of our children. So I am proposing setting about £50,000 from my stake in the family home aside, to secure each child a monthly grant while they are in higher education (the next 3-4 years), which I am paying currently anyway. Would such arrangement be acceptable to the courts?


One disadvantage is, that such a fund will lock the money, arrangements will also need to be found if a child drops out of uni etc. But I would appreciate hints on how viable this is and the kind of funds I could use to set this up.

Grantabrycge

As your children are over 18 years old, my understanding is that you are not obliged to maintain them. Therefore I doubt that you can offset any fund you set up for them against financial claims your wife may have on your estate.

You could try to get her to agree to this proposal in the children's interest. Is she reasonable and willing to support the children?