National Debt Service

John_Smith76

Yes, unfortunately so

clairebeth

Hi! Well done so far! I think the are definitely places you can cut back on:

Energy
Mobile Phone
TV (cut it all together)
Car costs (can you sell and get a £1000 car that's cheaper to run and insure?)
Clothing - £50 a month is a lot and unnecessary

The main things though are:
Your rent (can you downsize? This is almost a quarter of your income)

Your ex-wife's mortgage and maintenance (this is almost a third of your income).

In fact, I just calculated that these three things take up 56.4% of your take home income. It's not really sustainable, is it?

Are you paying all her mortgage or just a portion of it?

I don't know anything at all about divorce and maintenance... but, can I ask, were these payments worked out officially by the courts? It seems an incredibly high amount. Although I'm certainly not suggesting that your children should go without either. Perhaps it should be reevaluated, as it's causing you financial strain?

Can you clarify if you live on your own, or with a new partner? Do your children live with you some of the time?

Also... make sure your ex wife definitely is paying the buildings insurance, because she's responsible for YOUR investment.

EssexHebridean

OK - revisit the agreement that was made re the house and maintenance when you went through the divorce - is what you are paying currently in line with that because that does seem to be crazily high. If that was the form of the financial agreement has your own financial situation changed since that was put in place? If so then as said above, it may be that you need to go back to court.

Also - you need contents insurance for where you are living - it really is a false economy to not have that in place!

Potbellypig

John_Smith76 wrote: »

Yes, unfortunately so

You could trim some of the fat off the others but that is completely unfair and disproportional. Before tackling anything else then you need to be facing this head on.

RecentPost

You are not responsible for the entire costs of your previous relationship no matter the circumstance

Recommending you pay the legal requirement for maintenance until your financial situation improves

Calculate this :-

https://www.gov.uk/calculate-child-maintenance

Is the mortgage in your name or joint?

EssexHebridean

RecentPost wrote: »

You are not responsible for the entire costs of your previous relationship no matter the circumstance

Recommending you pay the legal requirement for maintenance until your financial situation improves

Calculate this :-

https://www.gov.uk/calculate-child-maintenance


Is the mortgage in your name or joint?

If there is a court order in place for a financial settlement this would be very poor advice indeed!

RecentPost

True, but maintenance and settlement orders are very different!