Split of Property Equity after a Split

FBaby

The law is behind you as you have been married long enough that assets accumulated before marriage is unlikely to have much weight into any decision. A judge would be much more interested in taking into account your wife's ability to house/support the children than what she owed before she married you.

On this basis, if you don't want to drag the divorce and end up giving the money away to lawyers, you need to convince her that she is being unreasonable. Do your research and show it to her and then suggest a realistic offer (65/35 is more than generous, unless you include you keeping your pension and her not having one, in which case, it is likely to be fair rather than generous).

TBagpuss

Is the property the only the assets, or are there other assets such as pensions / savings etc?
How do your earnings and mortgage capacities compare?


Generally speaking, there is an assumption that where one parents stays at home to care for small children, and the other works, that you are each making equally valuable contributions, so your comments about her not having worked for 6 years are irrelevant (and I'd bet she did work, she just didn't get paid for it!)

Normally the key issue it what your respective needs are - how much do you each need as a deposit in order to be able to buy a new property with a mortgage you can afford? Or will one or both of you need to rent?

A court would probably not give her credit for the debt of yours she paid at the start of the relationship but probably would agree that she should have more of the current capital, particularly if the children will be living with her and her current earning capacity is lower than yours.