Separation / Divorce

TBagpuss

Buy a car from your savings, go for something which has a broadly similar value to the one she will be retaining. 
Once you and she are separated (and you can be separated but living in the same house, if you are living as house-mates rather than as a couple, so separate bedrooms, each doing your own cooking and cleaning etc) she can apply for benefits and will be encourage to look for work .
Is the house privately rented, or council/Housing association?
If private, are you on a rolling tenancy or fixed term? 
As you are working, it is likely to be easier for you to find a new tenancy elsewhere than for your wife to do so, but if the current tenancy is in joint names you would need the landlord to agree to release you if you want to move out and end your liability for rent. 
Your wife would need to consider whether it is realistic for her to stay or whether she would need to downsize, particularly if she is not working (any help she may get towards rent will be based on her housing need as a single person, so is very unlikely to cover all the rent for a 3 bed. 
If the property is a council or HA tenancy then they will probably let you put it from joint names to one name if you both agree and assuming there are no rent arrears - obviously it is more secure and (usually) cheaper than a private rental so whoever stays is getting a significant advantage .

Spousal maintenance is unusual nowadays, and would in any case have to be declared as income for the purpose of any benefits claim so would be of limited use to her. A court is more likely to look t an uneven split of savings to take into account that you will be in a stronger position to build up new savings, and a pension share to equalize income in retirement, which given the difference in your ages, and you respective genders, is likely to mean that she will need more than 50% of the total pension pots needed. 
Jewelry would be taken into account - normally, for non-financial assets anything worth more than £500 individually would be declared and taken into account. However, it is the sale value, not the replacement value, which would be relevant - most jewelry is worth a lot less second hand that it's purchase price or insurance value. 

Markneath

Im not sure what part of the country you are but in England and Wales any pension accumulated before the marriage should be excluded from the assets to be split. 

You might need to ask for this though as some solicitors seem to need pushing on this one.

TBagpuss

Markneath said:

Im not sure what part of the country you are but in England and Wales any pension accumulated before the marriage should be excluded from the assets to be split. 

You might need to ask for this though as some solicitors seem to need pushing on this one.

That's not correct.
In *some* situations, particularly where the marriage is short or there is a pension built up wholly outside the marriage then it can be the case, but it isn't the default and is relatively unusual - courts normally focus primarily on needs - so they would usually only apportion assets and disregard pre-marital assets (including pension) where they are satisfied that both parties needs have been met. 
It used to be the case, when pension sharing was first introduced in 2000 that courts were much more willing to apportion pensions and exclude pre-marital pension assets, but it isn't generally the case.  In the same way, there are situations where other assets built up before the marriage may be treated differently to those built up together, but it isn't automatic. Given the length of OPs marriage it is unlikely to be appropriate here. 

dontknowwhattodonext

As I buy all the food, I have read this could be a problem to get the divorce as not fully seperated.  We are privately rented in Joint Names on contract until June 21

AskAsk

as others have said, she won't be able to claim against your future earnings. as there are no children involved the split of assets become easier.  i would think that it is possible to continue to live in the same house until the divorce settlement if it is an amicable divorce, but in practice i have no idea if this would actually work even in amicable split.

yksi

dontknowwhattodonext said:

As I buy all the food, I have read this could be a problem to get the divorce as not fully seperated.  We are privately rented in Joint Names on contract until June 21

You're separating. It is time for her to pull her weight and pay her share. In realistic terms since she has no income (and since your savings / assets will likely prevent any Universal Credit for her), document everything you are spending on supporting the two of you. She will not manage to get a flat to rent on the open market with no income, so if she has nowhere else to go (family member perhaps?) then I'd suggest that she try to find a small flat for herself now from a private landlord who might not do an employment check - hopefully she can show a bank statement to seal the deal. She should do it now while she is not in a rush.

I think it's important to be realistic here though. The most likely scenario here is that she never finds a full-time job before she reaches retirement age and can access her pension. The job market is very difficult here with incredible competition even for jobs as cleaners, and she's a 57-year-old woman without work history, she will be competing with healthy, energetic 25yos who have a reliable work history to show. Your salary is a good one so I hope there is a fair amount of joint assets to split between you. But at the end of the day it is 2020, women work outside the home and have done for the past fifty years. She has had the last 40 years to gain herself some skills but she chose not to, she never bothered to think she should contribute to your joint finances, and she is not your responsibility to support once you separate.

TBagpuss

dontknowwhattodonext said:

As I buy all the food, I have read this could be a problem to get the divorce as not fully seperated.  We are privately rented in Joint Names on contract until June 21

It shouldn't be a problem.
When you apply for the Decree Nisi you are asked if you have lived together for 6 months or longer since the date of the petition, and what the arrangements were for sharing the property. They are looking to see if you are really still cohabiting or have reconciled.
You need to separate out as much as you can, so sleep in separate rooms, do your own cooking and cleaning etc. It's reasonable to expect her to start buying her own food (she should be able to apply for benefits even when you are in the same house, as they also look t whether your are living together as a couple or not, so she should be assessed as a single person) but if she eats food you buy that should not prevent the divorce from going through, as long as you are separating as much as possible.
It's not uncommon to have a situation where one person is still paying more /all the bills as people can't always go directly to total financial separation. 

tedlewis355

Have a look at a chap called Richard cooper online, he has a YouTube called entrepreneurs in cars

he went through exactly what you are going through and now advises men in your situation 

BAFE

You won't have to pay spousal support on your salary as only high earners have to pay this, and very often even they don't have to pay.

dontknowwhattodonext

Thanks for the input everyone!
Regardng the asset split, does this go down to everything,  eg CD's my wife has loads, which I have no interest, can I just say have them all?
Thanks!